Dolphins defy odds, trip fancied Knights

Philippine Christian University continued to play its role as a certified giant-killer when it brought down highly-fancied Letran, 67-56, yesterday in the 78th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the oven-hot Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The Dolphins, an underrated team who fell short of a Final Four stint last year, employed a pesky defense that forced the Knights into 20 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play alone. Overall, Letran committed 28 errors as against PCU’s 15.

With their offense also working well, the Dolphins built a 51-35 lead entering the final quarter only to be met by a barrage of three-pointers from the Knights with Boyet Bautista and former juniors MVP Ronjay Enrile hitting two apiece.

The Knights managed to cut the deficit to 54-60 with only 1:25 remaining when Robert Sanz, who made a three-point play and a three-pointer earlier in the fourth quarter, drilled in another trey for PCU, dousing cold water on the Letran uprising.

The victory was the first in two outings for the Dolphins who lost to Mapua in last week’s opener after leading by as many as 19 points.

In the other seniors game, Jose Rizal University poured on the heat in the final quarter to carve out a surprise 84-75 win over Mapua to create a heavy six-team logjam at second place at 1-1. Only St. Benilde remains unbeaten in the eight-team field at 2-0.