Bombers turn back Knights

MANILA, Philippines - Jose Rizal U found a new hero in Nate Matute as the Heavy Bombers dispatched Letran, 76-60, to cement their hold of third spot yesterday in the 86th NCAA men’s basketbal tourney at The Arena in San Juan.

Matute, previously good for 4.8 points per game, found his touch and exploded with 22 points, pouring eight in the second when the Bombers erected a 42-23 lead and 11 in the fourth to secure the win – their seventh in nine outings.

“Finally he delivered,” coach Vergel Meneses said of his ward, who went 7-of-11 from the floor in 27 minutes of play. “He played a lot of minutes primarily because he was playing good defense but fortunately, he made a lot of his shots, too.”

Earlier, Ronnel del Rosario celebrated his 23rd birthday by leading Arellano U to a 76-72 win over Mapua in a heated match marred by trash-talking, shoving and ball-throwing incidents after the buzzer.

Mapua’s Andretti Stevens and Erwin Cornejo and Arellano’s Vergel Zulueta and Andrian Celada figured in trashtalk at centercourt, which turned into a shoving match. Arellano’s Erwin Catapang later joined the fray and threw the leather on Raymark Cabrera who was found to have thrown a punch.

After reviewing the tapes, the NCAA Management committee, upon the recommendation of commissioner Aric del Rosario, suspended Cabrera and Catapang for two games apiece while Zulueta got a one-game ban for “instigating the near-fight.”

Alex Almario chipped in 13 and Marvin Hayes, despite coming off a stint at the PBA Rookie Camp early in the day, had 12 markers, five rebounds and seven assists for JRU, No. 3 behind San Beda (8-0) and San Sebastian (7-1).

“We’re gradually seeing the potential of this team. From 60 percent the last time, we’re now at 70 percent,” Meneses said.

Letran (3-6) got 14 points from Jaypee Belencion and 11 from Jamieson Cortes.

Del Rosario, who averaged a mere 2.8 points in the first eight games, waxed hot with 21 points on a sizzling 10-of-12 shooting, powering the Chiefs to a 4-5 card, just a game of their victims’ fourth-running 5-4.

“He’s been doing well in practice so I really expected him to explode, though not this big,” coach Leo Isaac said of his slotman from Pampanga, who was instrumental in giving the Chiefs an early 39-31 lead and helped them stay safely ahead, 70-54, halfway through the fourth.

It was the second straight win for the Chiefs, who kept their Final Four bid alive while handing their closest rivals for the No. 4 slot, Mapua, a back-to-back loss.

“We’ve pinpointed from the start the players who can deliver and hurt us, so we devised a defensive pattern meant to control them. It turned out well, eventually,” Isaac said.

, whose wards held Marc Acosta (11.4 points per game) scoreless on a 0-for-seven field goal shutout.

With Acosta rendered ineffective, Cornejo led the way for Mapua with 29 markers followed by Teree Guillermo’s nine.

In juniors action, Mark Cruz shot 25 to power the Letran Squires to an 86-75 drubbing of Jose Rizal.

It was the Squires’ fifth win against four losses for No. 4, tied with the Mapua Red Robins, who hacked out a 74-52 rout of Arellano earlier .

The Light Bombers dropped to 6-3 but stayed at joint third behind San Beda (7-1) and Perpetual (6-2).