Knights topple punchless Generals for third win
The “inconsistent Knights” finally played a game where they focused and played hard from the opening tip to the final buzzer. In doing so, Letran notched an 88-65 win for their third victory in eight matches over a punchless Emilio Aguinaldo College at the San Juan Arena in last Monday’s NCAA Season 86 double-header.
The EAC Generals struggled mightily without point guard Argel Mendoza who showed up to the game in street clothes and a brace on his knee. Mendoza, who is good for 13.3 points, 8.3 assists, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.1 steals a game, was sorely missed. Roy Villegas, who replaced him in the starting line-up could only manage five points.
Letran head coach Louie Alas who called his team “inconsistent” spoke with key players Franz Dysam and Jam Cortes before the match to challenge them. In their previous outing, a 78-76 loss to Arellano University, Cortes play horribly while Dysam lost focus in the final minute of the closely fought match.
The two responded with 11 points each while Dysam added four assists to Cortes’ 10 rebounds.
“Right now, we hope that this will be the start of our turnaround,” said an elated Alas. “Who would have thought that our team known for defense would need to turn to our offense to pick us up?”
Jaypee Belencion led the Letran hit parade with 18 markers all of them coming from three-point land. Kevin Alas added 15 points.
For EAC, which tumbled to a 2-6 record to close out the first round, had John Santos and Jeff Lapitan, unlikely scoring leaders, pace the Generals with 13 and 10 points respectively.
Letran’s win closed out their first round campaign as they placed sixth in the nine-team field while EAC is at seventh. Rick Olivares
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