MANILA, Philippines – Letran leaned on Mark Cruz’s hot hands and its suffocating defense in the third quarter as it turned back Arellano U, 67-57, to remain unscathed in six games and atop the heap in the 89th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Thursday.
Cruz stepped up with the added minutes brought about by the absence of back-up point guard Franz Dysam, who survived six gunshot wounds in an incident just last Saturday, by firing a game-high 25 points.
"This game is really for Franz Dysam, we offer this game to him," said Cruz, who buried five of the 10 triples he attempted.
Raymond Almazan, who leads the MVP statistical race, saved the best for last by scoring five of his seven points in the last five minutes but he made his biggest contribution in defense where he plucked a game-high 17 rebounds.
The Knights' 6-0 record was its best start since also racking up six straight wins five seasons ago, the year they went straight to the finals only to get beaten by the San Beda Lions, who clinched a three-peat feat back then.
The triumph also put a separation by the Knights from their closest pursuers in the Lions, the reigning three-peat titlists, and the Perpetual Help Altas, who remained at joint second spot on 5-1 (win-loss) cards.
Letran coach Caloy Garcia said their focus was just to win.
"We were not thinking of what happened to Franz (Dysam) in the game, we just focused on what we wanted to happen in the game, which is to get a victory," said Garcia.
Garcia, however, said they said a prayer before the game for Dysam, who survived but lost girlfriend Joanne Sordan in the shooting incident, and wore a white wrist band in tribute to their hurting team member.
"We had a moment of silence and a prayer before the game. We wore a white wrist band also," said Garcia.
The Chiefs couldn't get anything from their starters and were even led by a third string player in Donald Gumaru, who had a team-high 10 points.
Arellano U fell to its fourth loss against two wins.
The scores:
First Game
Letran (67) -- Cruz 25, Racal 14, Nambatac 9, Almazan 7, Gabawan 4, Castro 2, Ruaya 2, Tambeling 2, Belorio 2, Po 0, Luib 0, Olotu 0, Buenaflor 0, Publico 0.
Arellano (57) -- Gumaru 10, Nicholls 9, Hernandez 8, Caperal 8, Pinto 7, Salcedo 5, Enriquez 4, Margallo 2, Agovida 2, Jalalon 2, Bangga 0, Cadavis 0.
Quarters: 22-16, 34-33, 53-42, 67-57.