MANILA, Philippines - Letran and Arellano U called on their mainstays to down Emilio Aguinaldo and St. Benilde, respectively, yesterday, and remain in strong contention for the Final Four in the 85th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.
Smart Gilas Pilipinas veteran RJ Jazul churned out 21 points, a league best 13 assists, five rebounds and four steals to power the Knights to a 92-66 demolition of the Generals and a sixth win in 10 outings.
Durable Giorgio Ciriacruz, for his part, fired 14 of his career best 31 points in the fourth quarter and hauled a career high 16 boards as he carried the Chiefs to an 82-72 win over the Blazers and into a share of No.4.
“RJ Jazul is the skipper of this team and he’s been leading by example,” said Letran coach Louie Alas.
“I told the boys to isolate Gio (Ciriacruz) because they were playing small in the fourth quarter and it worked,” Arellano mentor Junjie Ablan said.
In juniors’ action, Letran zoomed to its 10th straight triumph by bamboozling EAC, 125-61, while CSB thumped Arellano, 81-37.
Rey Guevarra, also a Smart Gilas Pilipinas standout, also fired 21 points to help the Letran cause.
Jazul and Guevarra torched the Generals with four triples apiece as the Knights ended up with a season best 14 three-pointers to complete the Knights’ sweep of the former.
The rout was a far cry from the nerve-wracking 85-84 win in overtime pulled off by Letran over EAC last Aug. 5.
“We really want to come out aggressive in this game because we nearly lost to them in the first round,” said Alas, who steered the school to NCAA titles in 1998, 2003 and 2005.
After trailing by 20 points midway in the third period, 30-50, the Blazers shifted their attack mode to a small but speedy unit and the squad blitzed its way to a 72-71 advantage with less than two minutes left in the game.
But Ciriacruz took charge and finished off the Blazers with eight foul shots in the ensuing play.
The Generals played tough in the early goings but the Knights seized the initiative with a couple of big runs that saw the former racing from a shaky 12-11 lead in the first quarter to 32-19 at the break.
And then it was all Letran from there as the explosive duo of Jazul and Guevarra delivered the decisive blows.
The Generals, led by Argel Mendoza’s 21 points, absorbed their eighth setback against two triumphs.