Letran stretches winning streak to 7

LOOKING TO PASS Letran’s Rafael Go (25) looks to pass the ball to a teammate inside the painted area as Lyceum’s JM Bravo (26) defends during their NCAA men’s basketball game on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre. NCAA/GMA PHOT 

DEFENDING champion Colegio de San Juan de Letran got back at Lyceum of the Philippines University as the Knights came through with a nail-biting 69-64 win over the Pirates in the NCAA Season 98 men’s basketball tournament Friday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

Louie Sangalang delivered a gutsy performance as he scored 12 points and pulled down 18 rebounds — 13 of which were on the defensive end — that highlighted the defense of Letran.

Letran also got even from a 75-82 first round defeat against the Pirates on October 2.

Letran’s defense held Lyceum to a sub-par 23-of-64 (35.9 percent) shooting from the floor while making 25-of-59 (42.4 percent) of its field goals. The team of coach Bonnie Tan also controlled the boards, 44-38.

Brent Paraiso led the Knights with 13 points, while Kurt Reyson came off the bench to contribute 10 points. Fran Yu added nine points, four rebounds, and seven assists and two steals.

“Big win for us kasi bukod sa naka-bawi kami sa Lyceum, napaganda pa namin ‘yung record namin and chance namin makakuha ng twice-to-beat advantage sa playoffs,” said Yu, the Finals MVP when Letran won the championship in 2019.

The triumph improved Letran’s record to 10-3, and stretched the team’s season-best win streak to seven games.

The Pirates, on the other hand, dropped their second straight game after also losing to the Arellano University Chiefs, 77-63, last Wednesday.

The setback dropped Lyceum to an 8-5 record.

John Barba was the only double-digit scorer for Lyceum with 16 points.

Scores:

Letran (69) – Paraiso 13, Sangalang 12, Reyson 10, Yu 9, Caralipio 7, Javillonar 5, Olivario 4, Go 4, Santos 3, Ariar 2, Miclat 0, Guarino 0

Lyceum (64) – Barba 16, Bravo 9, Guadana 8, Navarro 8, Valdez 6, Larupay 6, Umali 4, Villegas 4, Montano 3, Cunanan 0, Penafiel 0.

Quarters: 16-15, 31-31, 50-46, 69-64.