The Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights easily dumped the Lyceum Pirates, 76-60, in their second round meeting in Season 88 action of the NCAA at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
Letran improved their record to 7-6 and kept their hopes for the final four alive. The Pirates, who are already out of contention, absorbed their eleventh loss, and their eighth straight, against just two wins.
The Knights were able to sweep their season series with the Pirates, even forcing their Intramuros neighbor to finish with the same output in their first meeting.
Right from tipoff, the Knights already asserted their domination over the Pirates after a hot 15-1 start in the first period, with 10 points coming from the feisty Kevin Alas.
Letran continued to toy with the Pirates in the second period, to the dismay of Lyceum coach Bonnie Tan. The ninth-year head tactician of the Pirates, who will be celebrating his birthday on Sunday, Sept 9, reportedly left the venue after the intermission due to undisclosed reasons.
Assistant coach Chris Brower took over the coaching chores in the second half for the Pirates, who were down by eighteen points at the end of two quarters.
The Knights continued their onslaught in the second half, even pushing their lead to its biggest at 27, 57-30, late in the third.
John Azores of the Lyceum Pirates was slapped with a disqualifying foul early in the third for throwing a punch on a Letran Knight.
“We had excellent defense in the first half. Ang problem lang namin is how to sustain it. Hindi pa ganun ka-deep ang bench ng kalaban, hindi kami pwedeng dumepensa ng ganun lang sa first half alone,” said Letran mentor Louie Alas.
“Sinabi ko kay Kevin, hangga’t hindi ka nag-e-error ng madami, dyan ka lang,” added Alas about his son Kevin, who finished the game with a game-high 30 points, alongside six boards and six assists.
The younger Alas had already scored career-highs of 31 points twice this season, first against San Sebastian on opening day and another in their 101-83 loss to JRU in the first round.
“Treatment nalang namin is per game. Yung fate namin, di kontrolado ng kabila. Ang goal na lang is to improve every game. Yung sa mga makakalaban namin na kaya namin talunin, dapat kaya din nila talunin yung mga nasa itaas na tinitrail namin,” added the Letran coach.
Raymond Almazan, who did not suit up in their first meeting with the Pirates finished the game with 15 points and nine rebounds. Kevin Racal chipped in nine points and eleven boards to Letran’s cause.
Dexter Zamora topscored for the Pirate with 16 followed by Shane Ko and Chris Cayabyab who contributed 14 apiece.
The Scores:
Letran (76) — K. Alas 30, Almazan 15, Cruz 10, Racal 9, Cortes 5, Lituania 2, Gabawan 2, Gabriel 2, Belorio 1, Luib 0.
Lyceum (60) — Zamora 16, Ko 14, Cayabyab 14, Garcia 2, Laude 2, Edding 2, Martinez 2, Guevarra 2, Mallari 2, Azores 2, Francisco 2, Ambohot 2, Pascual 0, Alanes 0.
Quarterscores: 17-10, 38-20, 59-36, 76-60.
source: interaksyon.com
