By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE WINNING WAYS of the Letran Knights in Season 95 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association continued on Tuesday after they raced to a fifth straight win with an 89-84 victory over the Mapua Cardinals in league action at the FilOil Flying V Arena.
Challenged by the struggling Cardinals, the Knights stayed the course through it to improve to 5-1 in the ongoing season of the country’s oldest collegiate league, undefeated since opening the tournament with a loss.
The defeat, meanwhile, added to the struggles of Mapua, which continues to be winless in five matches.
The game had it nip-and-tuck at the start as both teams jockeyed to establish early control of the contest.
A late push to close out the opening quarter though gave the Knights some separation, 19-16, after the first 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, the Cardinals got rhythm, opening with a 6-0 run to overtake Letran, 22-19, in the first two minutes of the frame.
The Knights, however, regrouped, led by Bonbon Batiller and Larry Muyang, responding with a 13-0 run in the next three minutes to build distance anew, 32-22.
But the Cardinals kept fighting back on the efforts of Arvin Gamboa and Warren Bonifacio.
They sped to 15-5 run to reclaim the lead, 37-36, with under a minute left in the half.
When the second-quarter smoke subsided, Letran was still up with a slim one-point lead, 40-39.
At the resumption of action in the third canto, the two teams continued to battle.
Mapua gained early traction to swing the tide in its favor before Letran met the challenge head-on, outscoring the former, 26-21, for the canto to stretch its lead to six points, 66-60, entering the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals tried to make up for lost ground to begin the final period behind Christian Bunag, only to find a Letran crew stern with its stand.
Letran was up, 82-73, with 3:21 remaining in the match.
Mapua made a last-ditch effort to salvage a win, racking up six straight unanswered points to come within three points, 82-79, entering the last two minutes.
It had its chances to narrow things further but Mapua failed to capitalize on them.
Two free throws made by Jerrick Balanza made it a five-point game, 84-79, for the Knights with 1:20 to go.
Laurenz Victoria pulled the Cardinals to within two points, 84-82, with a triple after but Ato Ular countered with a deuce for the Knights to give his team more breathing space, 86-82, with 44 seconds remaining.
Bunag scored anew for Mapua 11 seconds later to make it 86-84.
Batiller, however, put the game away for Letran as he drained a bailout three-pointer with 19 seconds left for the final score of 89-84.
Muyang led the Knights with 24 points and nine rebounds with Batiller adding 15 markers.
Jeo Ambohot finished with 14 points while Balanza had 11.
For Mapua it was Bunag who showed the way with 17 points followed by Victoria with 15 markers.
