Knights, Red Lions take separate paths to shared lead

San Beda and Letran claimed their fourth victory on Friday in a contrasting fashion that speaks of the widening discrepancy between the NCAA Season 97 men’s basketball title favorites.

Teetering in danger zone especially in the final minute, San Beda needed a last-second heroic from JB Bahio to escape from San Sebastian, 61-60, and remain unbeaten in the tournament so far.

Rommel Calahat scored four points in the final minute including a short stab in the last 6.8 seconds for a 60-59 San Sebastian lead before Bahio’s put-back inflicted on the Stags their third loss in four games.

And while the wins are becoming harder and harder for the Red Lions to achieve, their archrival Knights coasted along with its win over the erstwhile unbeaten Mapua Cardinals, 80-60.

“This is a good win for us; we can take this to our next games,” said Rhenz Abando who scored 14 points for the Knights.

The win was a big statement for the defending champion Knights who pulled off the rout at the expense of the erstwhile unbeaten Cardinals. Letran improved to 4-0, while Mapua fell to 3-1.

The Red Lions and the Knights will collide in the last day of eliminations on April 29.

It took Letran a short time to tear the game apart—it took a 20-12 lead after the first quarter, which saw the Knights’ Louie Sanggalang getting thrown out midway through the period after throwing the ball at the Cardinals’ Warren Bonifacio.

Mapua guard Adrian Nocum sprained an ankle later in the quarter denying the Cardinals of their top playmaker and scorer for most of the game.

“We want to win the championship but we have too much respect for the other teams,” said Abando.