Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 29) – Defending champions Colegio De San Juan De Letran Knights swept the NCAA Season 97 elimination round after edging archrival San Beda University Red Lions, 59-56, on Friday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Letran clinched the top semifinals seed with a flawless 9-0 slate and will next face the fourth seed with a twice-to-beat advantage. The fourth seed will be determined in the play-in tournament beginning Sunday.
San Beda ended its elimination round campaign with a 7-2 record, tied with Mapua University.
But the Red Lions were relegated to the third seed and play-in tournament after they lost to the Cardinals in their eliminations game on April 23. Mapua earned the second seed and a twice-to-beat semifinals advantage.
“It’s all about the breaks of the game. It’s a tight game. San Beda brought out many assets, compared to their other elimination games,” said Letran coach Bonnie Tan.
As expected in a San Beda-Letran game, it was a back-and-forth battle but Red Lion guards JV Gallego and Jacob Cortez took over in the final minutes of the second half to give the halftime lead to the Mendiola-based dribblers, 29-26.
Letran changed their cards in the third quarter and subbed in main gunner Rhenz Abando off the bench as the forward spearheaded the Knights’ 17-2 run to snatch the advantage after 30 minutes of action.
In the final period, the rivals continued their nip-and-tuck battle and the Red Lions held a 51-47 lead in the middle of the last quarter off a fastbreak play from Tony Ynot to James Kwekuteye for the basket.
The reigning NCAA titlists unleashed a 6-0 scoring run to again steal the lead, 53-51, courtesy of a triple from big man Jeo Ambohot.
The highly physical match was capped in the final minutes with both squads showing hard defensive hustle, but the Knights got the lucky offensive breaks from inside shots of frontcourt reliables Ambohot and Louie Sangalang – who topscored for the Muralla-based cagers with 12 points.
Kwekuteye – who is San Beda’s lone double digit scorer with 14 points – delivered the clutch shots that got them behind by one, 56-57.
But the Red Lions’ roar ran out in the last minute as they failed to get good shots off the pressured defense of the Knights.
Abando – who tallied 10 points in the crucial tiff – sealed the game-winning free throws.
With the loss, the third seed San Beda will only have a day off as they are set to face fourth seed College of St. Benilde in the play-in tournament on Sunday noon. The winner will face Mapua in the semis, while the loser will play the winner of the other play-in matchup between fifth seed Perpetual Help and sixth seed Arellano University for the fourth semifinals seed.
The Scores:
LETRAN 59 – Sangalang 12, Abando 10, Fajarito 9, Yu 7, Ambohot 7, Mina 5, Javillonar 4, Reyson 2, Paraiso 2, Olivario 1, Caralipio 0.
SAN BEDA 56 – Kwekuteye 14, Gallego 7, Cortez 6, Ynot 5, Penuela 5, Bahio 4, Amsali 4, Jopia 4, Sanchez 3, Alfaro 2, Cuntapay 2, Abuda 0, Andrada 0, Cometa 0, Fornis 0.
Quarterscores: 15-15, 26-29, 45-39, 59-56.
