In the process, San Beda College also secured the twice-to-beat advantage.
Wingman Kevin Racal led a 15-0 Letran outburst in the second half by scoring nine points in the period to lead the Knights to a 13-3 record. He finished the game with 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
“Hindi naman ako pang-opensa talaga, iniisip ko lang i-stop yung binabantayan ko,” said Racal after the game. “Parati ngang sinasabi ni coach, our offense starts from our defense.”
“As usual, they stepped up defensively at yung run namin sa second quarter, depensa ang nagdala nun,” said Letran head coach Caloy Garcia. “Goal naming is to get the twice-to-beat advantage and our consistency was our key for this win.
The beleaguered Altas, now in a three-game losing streak, fielded African forward Nosa Omorogbe for only six minutes after playing for more than forty minutes against San Beda College. According to coach Aric del Rosario, he is still under the weather.
Omorogbe’s absence compounded the Altas’ woes as they were forced to play with their second-string big men, who could not matchup against leading MVP candidate Raymond Almazan, who hauled 15 rebounds and swatted six shots in the game.
Harold Arboleda led the scoring for the Altas with 21 points while leading Rookie of the Year candidate Juneric Baloria added 15 points off a paltry 3-of-17 shooting from the field.
The Altas drop to 11-6 for third place and is two games ahead of San Sebastian College.
Lyceum vs. Benilde game suspended due to heavy rains
Meanwhile, as a result of the adverse weather, the game between Lyceum of the Philippines University and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde was postponed at the 8:09 mark of the third quarter.
The score was stuck at 32-31 for the Pirates when the technical committee decided to postpone the game.
NCAA management committee Peter Cayco said that the committee will decide today if the game will be reset or resumed at the moment when it was stopped.
