Robins post 100-point win edge vs Altalettes

Mapua gladly showed no mercy on both billings yesterday by crushing Perpetual Help College of Rizal in the juniors and seniors divisions of the 78th NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The Red Robins were the first to expose a great disparity in talent between the two schools, posting an incredible 100-point winning margin, 130-30, that at first glance looked like a typo error from the scoring sheet.

So lopsided was the game that the Red Robins settled the issue as early as the first quarter which they took, 33-2. They went up, 63-7, at the half and took an 87-point lead, 105-18, entering the final period.

It wasn’t the first time that the Altalettes had suffered a defeat as big as this one after losing to Letran by 103 points, 51-154, last July 17. The Altalettes slipped to 0-4 and now face the challenge of winning at least one game this season.

The Cardinals then followed suit, holding the Altas scoreless in the entire second quarter en route to a 73-32 victory. It was the first time in the NCAA cage competition that a team had gone scoreless in an entire quarter.

The Cardinals had to do it without four key players, including starting point guard Jeffrey Martin, who were suspended at least one game each for their involvement in a bench-clearing incident against St. Benilde last week. Martin will sit out two more games.

The Blazers also had four players suspended but it hardly showed in an 88-75 victory over Letran. It was the fourth straight win for St. Benilde, the only unbeaten team in the field thus far. Letran fell to 2-2.