MANILA, Philippines - Letran continued its rise from the ruins as it stormed past Jose Rizal, 70-59, and moved up to solo third in the 88th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Kevin Alas came through with an all-around effort with 17 points, six rebounds and the same number of assists and steals while Jam Cortes pounded his way to 16 points and 10 boards to help propel the Knights to their sixth win in the last seven games and 10th overall against six losses.
Jose Rizal fell to fifth with a 9-7 (win-loss) record, half a game behind No. 4 Perpetual Help (9-6).
Emilio Aguinaldo leaned on a second half breakaway as it turned back an undermanned St. Benilde side, 73-64, to keep its dimming Final Four hopes alive.
Franz Chiong, a guard playing his last season, led his team with 20 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter when the Generals blew the game apart to seal their seventh win against nine defeats that kept them in the Final Four race.
EAC though must win its remaining games against Letran on Sept. 29 and Jose Rizal on Oct. 4 and only one among Letran, Jose Rizal and Perpetual Help reaches the 10-win plateau for it to gain a playoff for the last Final Four berth.
“Deep inside I’m still hoping but it’s not in our control now,” said EAC coach Gerry Esplana, whose team’s current standing is already a massive improvement compared to their dismal 4-14 finish last season.
The Generals depended heavily on their rebounding might and beat the Blazers in that department, 59-49, with Elyzer Paguia, Cameroonian Noube Happi and point guard John Tayongtong accounting for majority of it with 13, 12 and 11 boards, respectively.
St. Benilde played minus Carlo Lastimosa, Joel Tolentino and Anton Altamirano for various reasons.
But the Blazers didn’t look like one when they stuck with the Generals like leeches and trailed by just a hairline, 29-30, at the break.
But the absence of Lastimosa, Tolentino and Altamirano took its toll on St. Benilde as EAC unleashed a series of runs that was capped by strong Chiong’s 11-point splurge in the final period.
St. Benilde fell to 4-12.
Meanwhile, the league will hold its third out-of-town game of the season as San Beda squares off with Mapua at 4 p.m. and Perpetual Hell clashes with Lyceum at 6 p.m. in Subic Bay.
The NCAA had already staged basketball games in Sta. Cruz, Laguna a couple of months back and its beach volley matches in Subic last month.