Martin San Diego | FCF

In a league where gigantic African migrant athletes are becoming an emergent dominant class, a diminutive hero emerges as this week’s hottest player for his still undefeated team.

Standing at a mere 5’5”, Mark Cruz roared to another 20-point performance, boosting Colegio de San Juan de Letran to its seventh win in a row, routing neighbors Mapua Institute of Technology, 87-68, in the last day of NCAA seniors basketball action at The Arena in San Juan on Monday night before taking a 13-day sabbatical to give way for the Manila FIBA Asiads.

When asked about taking charge despite being the smallest man in the court, Cruz responded, “Sanay na ako, basta kasama ko sina Raymond [Almazan] at Jojo [Belorio] feel ko mas secured akong tumira.”

“Malaki ang tiwala ko sa mga kakampi ko, at alam na alam nila ang role nila, kaya confident akong gampanan ang role as the main scorer kung kakailanganin akong umiskor,” he added.

Cruz had his boosters on fire in the first quarter, scoring eight points off dribble drives and stop-and-pops as the Knights soared to a 17-point lead, 25-8.

The lead was never brought down to below ten as Cruz followed his opening fire with six points in the second and after taking a brief rest in the third, he went to a scoring spree in the fourth, firing eight points including two off-the-dribble treys against the defense of the Cardinals’ bigger guards.

Cruz then capped off his sterling performance with his fourth steal of the game coming in the last two minutes. Grabbing the candy off Leo Gabo, Cruz lobbed a long pass to JC Po, who issued a dime to a waiting Raymond Almazan who threw a rim rattler for the proverbial final nail to Mapua’s coffin.

“Matagal pa kasi ang next game kaya sinabi ko sa kanila, let’s play it all out today para naman makapagpahinga nang maayos sa break. Emphasis lang naming is to minimize our errors and steady pa rin sa depensa,” commented Letran coach Caloy Garcia.

Cruz led his team with 22 points, ten rebounds, five assists, four steals, and zero turnovers while Almazan played his usual game with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks.

The last place Cardinals, now at 1-6, were led by Kenneth Ighalo with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists.

Martin San Diego | FCF

Generals maroon limbless Pirates

In the second game, the backcourt duo of John Monteclaro and Francis Munsayac stepped up in crunch time en route to the second win of Emilio Aguinaldo College, 83-76, at the expense of Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Despite playing without leading scorer Dexter Zamora and main power forward Andrei Mendoza because of suspensions meted out on the duo, the Pirates were relentless in keeping in step with the Generals, who lost two of their main men, John Tayongtong and Jack Arquero, in the second half due to injuries.

5’5” Pirate Tirso Lesmoras, who was all over the place to lift the Pirates’ shift on his shoulders, swished two free throws to trim a once 14-point deficit in the second quarter to only two points, 76-78, at the 40-second mark, registering a career-high 28 points.

In the ensuing play, the 5’3” Munsayac and 5’8” Monteclaro executed a daring play, with the former displaying his dribbling skills to confuse Pirate defender Pol Soliman, then issuing his only assist of the game to Monteclaro, who eked out ample shooting space in front of Lesmoras for a top-of-the-key three-pointer to put the lead to 81-76 with a full shotclock ahead.

In the final possession, Soliman bricked an open trey and despite a giant effort by Lesmoras to box out 6’7” Cedric Noube Happi for a rebound, he was tagged with his fifth foul that closed the door for the Pirates.

“Malaking game ito because remember last year, we were at 2-7 bago kami nag-improve sa second round. This time, may two games left pa kami sa first round of eliminations at magandang win ito to build momentum para hopefully, mag-improve kami sa first round standing naming for this year,” said EAC head coach Gerry Esplana.

With the win, the Generals are now tied with the Pirates at 2-5 for a share for seventh place.

The Generals were led by Happi with a monstrous game of 25 points and 20 rebounds while the Pirates were led by Lesmoras with 28 points and seven rebounds on top of nine-for-12 field goal shooting and seven-for-eight from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, Pirates forwards Mark Francisco and Joseph Ambohot may face suspension for incurring disqualifying fouls in the fourth quarter.

Francisco, who scored seven in the third quarter, was ejected for punching EAC power forward Sidney Onwubere while Ambohot was caught throwing a forearm to Onwubere in a rebound play in the fourth quarter.