Letran staves off San Sebastian, remains unbeaten
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FOUR wins without a loss isn’t anything spectacular for Letran coach Louie Alas.
“I’ve been in this situation a lot of times. It’s not special to me,” said the multi-titled Knights coach.
Sentiments aside, his wards from Colegio de San Juan de Letran outlasted the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Stags, 71-67, to claim the solo lead in the 84th season of the NCAA seniors basketball tournament last July 16, 2008 at the Pasay Astrodome.
The Knights didn’t pull off anything new from their playbook, feeding the ball to Dino Daa and letting him operate when the game was on the line. But the difference was quite evident this time around as the 6’3” lefty got his teammates more involved in the offense.
Daa tallied 26 points and grabbed 17 boards, while two others, Alvyn Cabonce (14) and RJ Jazul (11) finished in double-figures for the Knights, who trailed 13-22 in the first quarter.
The Knights came out flat in the first period and were confused by the changing defenses put up by the Stags of coach Jorge Gallent. Gallent, Alas’ coaching rival in the PBL, employed a series of match-up zones that caught the Knights flat-footed.
“They were playing different types of defenses, but we were able to adjust in the second period. In the second half, we struggled a bit but Dino took charge,” said Alas.
The Muralla-based outfit, however, gave their rivals a dose of their own medicine in the second quarter as they held San Sebastian to only eight points, while unloading 20 themselves to take a 33-30 lead at the turn.
Daa was in the zone in the second half, pumping in 15 of his total output. He scored four of the Knights’ last seven points, including a getaway move that gave Letran a seemingly unassailable 68-61 lead.
The Stags refused to fold, though, knocking in six straight points to sandwich Rey Dangcal’s split at the foul line to come to within two, 67-69, with only 2.3 seconds left. Fellow playmaker Kojack Melegrito sank the two free throws that resulted from a Jim Viray foul to ensure the Knights’ victory.
Although Alas downplayed the Knights’ impeccable start, he sees brighter things ahead after his team’s fourth consecutive victory. “We’re on the learning process and one thing we’ve learned is that the more unpredictable we are, the better team we will become.”
Swingman Jimbo Aquino led the Stags with 13 points.
San Sebastian fell to the bottom of the team standings along with Philippine Christian University at 1-4.
Individual Scores:
Letran 71 - Daa 26, Cabonce 14, Jazul 11, Foronda 4, Melegrito 4, Gutilban 3, Guevarra 3, Belencion 2, Latonio 0, Cortez 0, Ranises 0.
San Sebastian 67 - Aquino 13, Saquillo 12, Viray 10, Najorda 10, Ballesteros 7, Maconocido 4, Raymundo 4, Semira 3, Delgado 2, Bulawan 2, Del Rio 0.
Quarterscores: 13-22; 33-30; 45-48; 71-67
Tags: Dino-Daa, Letran-Knights, NCAA-Season-84, Petron, San-Sebastian-StagsRelated posts
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Letranista
+0
Wednesday, 16 July 2008 at 11:13 pm
Nice game ulit! Arriba!
mapuan
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Wednesday, 16 July 2008 at 11:40 pm
see you guys on monday… hati na naman ang intramuros… hahaha…
the-bedista-bomb
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 12:50 am
what a game again for the stags.
they deserve some credit for this.
first, it was us who almost bowed down to them.
then next is Letran. man, that’s no joke.
sana makapasok baste sa final four para suspense.
i can’t wait for august 1 to come.
Animo San Beda!
Letranista
+0
Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 10:03 am
magaling talaga stags, their team standing does not tell their real strength. I expect a very competitive 2nd round.
Goodluck sa letran!
Arriba!
NCAA Fan
+0
Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 10:16 am
Sir Rey Joble, may info po kayo regarding sa graduating players ng letran knights? thank you po!
albert ayler disciple
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 12:07 pm
my hats off to the stags. your record does not reflect your strength
bystander
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 2:12 pm
We all expect a good game from Daa and Jazul. But this guy Cabonce really stepped up huh? Malas pa si Guevarra nyang lagay na yan!
On the Baste side, if only Ballesteros can also step up. He is underperforming especially for a player his size…
Letranista
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 3:04 pm
LC GO GO GO
LC RAH RAH RAH
LC GO LC RAH
LC SISBOOMBA!
dupont19
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 3:04 pm
congrats knights!
sa baste naman, more practice pa kailangan,sa shooting at sna wag agad mag give up lalo na sa dipensa, sayang kaya pa habulin ung kahapon kung pinagtyagaan lng sana.. bawi nlng sa next game..at be ready for the second round..God bless sa lahat..
BRAVO BASTE!!!
Letranista
+0
Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 3:18 pm
na re sched ang games!
July 23 (wed.) MIT vs. CSJL, 4pm
July 30 (wed.) SBC vs. CSJL, 4pm
rhk111
+0
Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 6:01 pm
Dino Daa owned Jason Ballesteros in this game.
The thing about Jason, is that I never saw him put up the same kind of Dino put up in this game. And Jason is in his last year with the Stags.
proud2Bbedan
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 7:26 pm
JULY 30.. I cant wait for the fight between letran college.. haha!!
asaness
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 9:08 pm
hehe battle of intramuros n nman..sana mapanood ko un kht may clase ako
viva mapua!sana ma beat namen letran :D
nicksy
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 11:20 pm
mga Sir, there will be a change on the scheduled games for the NCAA, pls refer to the site below.
http://www.sportingpulse.com/comp_info.cgi?a=ROUND&round=-1&client=11-4871-0-73538-0&pool=-1
kobenatics
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Friday, 18 July 2008 at 1:42 pm
galing ni daa!!! for his size dominating a lame player such as big as ballesteros sobra!!!!!
well baste is short again, they really need a consistent treat and scorer which viray and ballesteros cant give them.
good luck on the nest round nalang.
BRAVO BASTE PARIN!!!!!!!
ric
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Friday, 18 July 2008 at 9:23 pm
The battle of Intramuros round1 has begun.