THE Letran Knights go for their third victory in four games in Season 94 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) when they take on the College of St. Benilde Blazers in “NCAA on Tour” action at the Knights’ home in Intramuros in Manila.
Lumped in the middle of the standings early in the season, Letran (2-1) and St. Benilde (2-2) try to fortify their spot in the top half with a victory in their 4 p.m. encounter at the Letran Gym.
The Knights are fresh from their 74-58 victory over the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Bombers on July 27, which saw Larry Muyang and Chris Fajarito leading the charge.
Muyang and Fajarito, transferees from La Salle and St. Benilde, respectively, lorded it over inside as they finished with 14 points apiece en route to the one-sided triumph.
Owing to their size and heft advantage, the Knights are the league’s second-best team in points allowed to date, limiting their opponents to 70.67 points a game, second only to San Beda’s league-best 60 points an outing.
“We hope to continue to take advantage of our size the way we did in our past games,” said Letran coach Jeff Napa heading into today’s game.
Standing in the way of the Knights are the Blazers, winners in their last game over JRU, 81-66, on Tuesday.
St. Benilde rode the efforts of Cameroonian Clement Leutcheu to complete the mastery of struggling JRU.
Leutcheu finished with a solid double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds to help his team get back on the winning track and improve to 2-2 for the season.
Held a narrow 16-15 lead over the Bombers at the end of the first 10 minutes, the Blazers cranked things up in the second quarter, led by Leutcheu, to stretch their lead to 37-27 by the halftime break and never look back the rest of the way.
Against Letran, St. Benilde coach TY Tang said they hope for a better outcome after losing to the Knights also on tour at the latter’s home last season.
“We lost to them last year also in Letran and it was a close game. Hopefully, it would be a different turnout on Thursday,” said Mr. Tang. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
