Knights scrape past Altas; Cardinals finally score

Letran’s Louie Sangalang. –NCAA PHOTO

Louie Sangalang scored eight points crucial points to help Letran before fouling out as the Knights survived Perpetual Help, 70-67, that had the defending champion Knights staying in the upper half of the NCAA Season 98 men’s basketball standings at San Juan Arena.

Sangalang fouled out with still two minutes left and the Knights had to go through the agony of a botched overtime-forging attempt by Perpetual’s Jielo Razon with 1.5 seconds left before rising to 5-3 with their second straight win.

And that wouldn’t have happened had Sangalang been there for the final two minutes, just after he helped Letran to a 70-64 lead.

“He fouled out, sadly. He gave unnecessary fouls so I hope he works on it because we really need him,” Letran coach Bonnie Tan said.

It was also Razon who sank a three-pointer from way out with 55.5 seconds remaining for what turned out to be the final count

Razon led the Altas with 20 points.

Fran Yu and Brent Paraiso also helped the Knights with 13 points each. Yu also had five assists.

Meanwhile, Mapua finally grabbed its first win after defeating Emilio Aguinaldo, 67-55, earlier.

The Cardinals, who now hold a 1-8 record to end the first round, locked down the Generals to only 30.6-percent shooting from the field.

EAC took a seventh straight loss despite getting 22 points from Allen Liwag.