Dolphins defuse Bombers; Knights gain share of lead

Unfazed by its rival’s amazing run, Philippine Christian University stunned Jose Rizal College with a 69-63 win yesterday in a victory that snapped the Heavy Bombers’ four-game streak and created a four-way logjam at the top in the NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Joseph Roque fired 19 points while rookie Ian Vincent Garrido dished out another gem of a game for the second straight time, scoring 18 points, as they powered the Dolphins to their third victory in six games.

More significantly, the win, which coach Jimmy Mariano credited to his wards’ solid defense, paved the way for a four-way tie at the top among Jose Rizal, Mapua, San Beda and Letran with identical 4-2 (win-loss) records.

Earlier, Letran fought back from 21 points down and turned back University of Perpetual Help of Rizal, 68-66.

Ronjay Enrile stepped up in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of his 16 points in the period although it was Dale Santos who delivered the game-winner off a fastbreak lay-up.

With two seconds to go, Dom Javier had a chance to send the game into overtime but missed the front end of his charities. He intentionally muffed the second but Marcel Cuenco failed to control the rebound as time expired.

The Altas, playing with an injured power-playing center Robert Lee Bamson, fell to their fourth loss in six games.

"I told them during the break to step up and toughen up on our defense in the second half because I know in my heart that the game isn’t over yet," said Letran coach Louie Alas. "I’m just proud of my boys that they never gave up."

From 2-5 down at the start of the game, the Altas, led by Javier’s nine early points, set up a torrid pace to turn that deficit to a 22-17 lead after the first quarter.

UPHR then turned to defense in the second period as it held Letran to just eight points as Alas stood in the sidelines grimacing at how his Knights are disintegrating and trailing at 43-25 at the break.

Thanks to Alas’ repeated reminders to his players not to give up, the Knights unleashed a third quarter storm as the Altas’ 48-27 advantage early in the third canto was trimmed down to 11 entering the final period.

Enrile then capped a vicious run with a triple and two free throws to knot the count at 64-all but two foul shots by Vladimir Joe, a rookie out of Pampanga, gave UPHR back the lead 66-64, with exactly 1.18 minutes remaining.

But it was to be the Altas’ last show of force as Enrile struck with a basket half a minute later to level the count anew before Santos entered the fray with a game-winner to nail the final coffin.