Knights crush Chiefs, keep No. 2 bid alive

KEVIN Alas was a master at work as Letran overpowered Arellano, 76-58, last night to keep its hopes of nailing the second seed in the Final Four of the 88th NCAA basketball tournament at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The crafty guard shot 24 points and dished out 10 assists, spearheading a torrid second-half assault by the Knights, who capped their terrific second-round turnaround with a solid performance that bared their readiness for the semifinals.

The win was the Knights’ eighth in the second round, where they lost just one game—against top seed San Beda. The Knights cooled off after a promising start and once languished at eighth spot, before piling up victories to vault to third.

At 12-6, the Knights will gain a playoff with San Sebastian (12-5) for the No. 2 seed and the twice-to-beat advantage that goes with it if the Stags lose to top semifinalist San Beda on Monday.

The playoff is tentatively set Thursday.

The Chiefs, hoping to surpass their win total from last season, kept in step with the Knights in the first half with rookie Julius Cadavis carrying the load.

But Letran flaunted plenty of weapons in the third period, while clamping down on the Arellano shooters to gain a 62-44 edge heading into the final quarter.

Kevin Racal also did some damage with 15 points, including five in the third canto, where the Knights outscored the Chiefs, 22-6.

The Knights held Arellano’s top gun, James Forrester, to just 2 points on 1-of-7 shooting.

“Happy is an understatement,” said Alas. “I really appreciated what the players had done in the second round.”

Alas felt the return of the 6-foot-7 Raymond Almazan who missed seven games in the first round “solved our problems.”

The scores:

LETRAN 76—Alas 24, Racal 15, Belorio 9, Cruz 7, Cortes 7, Almazan 6, Lituania 5, Olotu 3, Luib 0, Pantin 0.

ARELLANO 58—Cadavis 18, Acidre 12, Hernandez 10, Pinto 6, Zulueta 3, Forrester 2, Salcedo 2, Serjue 1, Lunas 0, Bangga 0, Palma 0.

Quarters: 18-18, 40-38, 62-44, 76-58