Knights defuse Bombers, stay at helm

Games tomorrow (The Arena, San Juan)

4 p.m. – EAC vs San Beda

6 p.m. – San Sebastian vs Perpetual Help

MANILA, Philippines - Letran overcame a four-point deficit in the final minute of regulation play and upstaged Jose Rizal, 69-66, in overtime to gain solo lead in the NCAA Season 89 men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan last night.

Mark Cruz made a big defensive stop, then set up Kevin Racal for a layup to force the overtime at 60-all, and the Knights controlled the match in the extra period to notch their third straight win.

The Knights scored seven straight free throws to eventually steal the game, handing the Bombers a second straight loss after a triumphant season debut over the Mapua Cardinals.  

Earlier, Lyceum threw a defensive gauntlet on Mapua top guns Joseph Eriobu and Kenneth Ighalo and went to Dexter Zamora, Shane Ko and Wilson Baltazar on the offensive end to hammer out a 74-59 victory.

Zamora came out of his shell, firing a game-high 22 points while Ko and Baltazar contributed 15 and 10 points, respectively, as the Pirates nailed a second win in three starts.

The Pirates came into the game determined to shackle Eriobu and Ighalo and they did, holding the Mapua aces down to merely nine points together.

On Monday, Eriobu exploded for 30 and Ighalo added 21 as the Cardinals topped the San Sebastian Stags, 104-99, in double-overtime.

“Our game plan was really to stop their top two scorers, Ighalo and Eriobu, and we were successful in doing that,” said Lyceum coach Boni Tan.

The Pirates limited the Cardinals to 10 points in the first quarter and to 12 in the payoff period in a good defensive effort allowing them to bounce back from a heartbreaking 60-68 defeat at the hands of the Arellano U Chiefs last week.

Lyceum’s first win came at the expense of reigning three-peat champion San Beda, 70-66, last June 24.

Jeson Cantos and Mark Brana put in 16 and 15 points for the Cardinals who suffered a second loss against a lone win.

It didn’t help that Mapua missed 12 of 22 free throws and committed 24 errors.

Six-foot-3 Cameroonian Issah Mbomiko dished out a steady performance and drew praise from his coach.

“He may be the smallest African playing in the Philippines, but his biggest contribution to this team is his heart,” said Tan of Mbomiko. “He’s also my team captain on defense. He gets angry when the other players play soft.”