Letran's Racal named NCAA Player of the Week

MANILA, Philippines - Kevin Racal may not be Letran's biggest star but he shone the brightest in the Knights' 77-70 comeback win over the Mapua Cardinals last Saturday.

The 6-2 Racal showcased his all-around game to help Letran complete its comeback from eight points down and keep its hold of the top spot at 9-1.

It also earned Racal the ACCEL/3XVI NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week plum backed by Gatorade.

With graduating center Raymond Alamazan transcending into an MVP frontrunner and veteran playmaker Mark Cruz providing the scoring punch for Letran, Racal has taken the back seat at the offensive end this season and instead focused on the other side of the floor.

"He is a very good role player. Hindi siya yung masasabi mong superstar because he is really in the mold of a defensive player na kapag pumutok siya sa offense, malaking bagay talaga siya," said Letran head coach Caloy Garcia of Racal.

But against the hard-fighting Cardinals, Racal changed the script and took on the lead role with 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists after just averaging 10.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in the first round.

Racal's best game yet also came at the most opportune time with Letran surprisingly having trouble in getting past Mapua.

It wasn't the first time though, that the third year swingman had stepped up in scoring when Letran needed additional firepower as he netted 14 points in the Knights' vengeful 74-67 win over fierce rival San Beda Red Lions to reclaim solo first place.

Racal bested San Beda's Nigerian big man Ola Adeogun and Perpetual Help's Nosa Omorogbe for the weekly citation.