Knights shut down Chiefs for 3-0 lead in the NCAA

MANILA—Drawing strength from another solid defensive stand, Letran crushed Arellano, 88-70,Friday to stay unbeaten in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Putting more effort in their pressure defense in the second period, the Knights ripped the game wide open with a 21-0 blitz and cruised from there to join idle San Sebastian on top with a perfect 3-0 record.

“We didn’t do anything special there,” said Letran coach Louie Alas, whose Knights are off to their first 3-0 start since 2008.

“We just played good defense. We’ve always told ourselves that the barometer of our game will be defense. If we make some stops, chances are we’ll be able to do transition offense.”

Later, Emilio Aguinaldo College survived guest team Lyceum, 73-67, to improve to 2-1, its best start since joining the league in 2009.

Despite turning the ball over 25 times, the Generals managed to hold off the Pirates, thanks to crucial baskets by Jolas Paguia, who scored five of his team’s last seven points inside the final 2:44.

It was the second straight for the Pirates, who now drop to an even 2-2 slate for fifth. Arellano fell to 1-2 in a tie with JRU and St. Benilde at sixth.

Paguia, who scored 21 points in the 79-75 win over Arellano last week, buried a triple with a minute left to boost the Generals, 71-65.

“It’s a lucky win,” said EAC coach Gerry Esplana, whose squad now occupies solo fourth in the standings.

“We should have pulled away from Lyceum, but we just made a lot of miscues. That’s part of the maturity process of this team. So far, I’m pleased with the performance of the team but we still have a long way.”

Sluggish in the opening period, the Knights finally found their groove as their suffocating defense ignited the second-quarter surge that easily erased a seven-point deficit and allowed them to grab a 42-31 at the break.

“Offense became our problem in the early goings perhaps because in the last six days we were too focused on defense and only worked on our offense yesterday,” Alas said.

It was a balanced attack for the Knights as Jam Cortes posted 16 points to lead four other players in double figures.

Jonathan Belorio and rookie Kevin Racal added 15 and 14 points, respectively for the Knights, who had a season-best 20 assist and enjoyed a 49-33 rebounding edge.

Letran also drew solid numbers from Raymond Almazan with 12 points, seven boards and two blocks and Kevin Alas, who finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The Senior scores:
First Game
LETRAN 88—Cortes 16, Belorio 15, Racal 14, Almazan 12, K. Alas 11, Cruz 9, Espiritu 8, Dysam 2, Mendoza 1, J. Alas 0, Pantin 0, Gabawan 0, Lituania 0, Cudal 0, Gabriel 0.
ARELLANO 70—Celada 22, Acidre 17, Zulueta 16, Lapuz 8,  Palma 5, Paguyanan 2, Caperal 0, Salcedo 0, Casino 0, Okpe 0, Doligon 0, Gumaru 0. Quarters: 18-23, 42-31, 64-49, 88-70

Second Game
EAC 73—Cubo 16, Jamon 16, Torralba 11, Paguia 7, Yaya 7, Morada 5, Vargas 4, King 4, Chiong 3, Diolanto 0, Sanchez 0.
LYCEUM 67—Cayabyab 14, Guevarra 13, Santos 11, Laud 8, Zamora 6, Lacap 6, Napiza 5, Lesmoras 2, Azores 1, Mallari 0, Pascual 0, Anacta 0, Ong 0.
Quarters: 18-16, 38-33, 53-48, 73-67