Junior Altas, Squires chalk up win No. 6

MANILA, Philippines — The Perpetual Junior Altas recovered from a loss and recorded their sixth win in the NCAA Season 99 Juniors basketball tournament with a 102-84 rout of the Jose Rizal U Light Bombers at the Filoil EcoOil Center in San Juan City yesterday.

Coach Joph Cleopas’ Altalettes beat the Kalentong boys to remain in the lead with the defending champion Letran Squires with  their identical 6-1 win-loss records.

Leading the Junior Altas was MVP race frontrunner Amiel Acido with a triple-double of 17 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists.

JD Pagulayan put in a game-high 24 points with 6-of-12 clip from the arc.

Three other players registered double figures as LeBron Daep tossed in 16 points, Mark Gojo Cruz chimed in 14 points, six rebounds and four assists and Aries Borja chipped in 14 points, two rebounds and the same number of blocks and steals.

Earlier, Daniel Padilla and Jolo Navarro teamed up in lifting Letran to a 106-85 decimation of Arellano University.

Padilla exploded for 28 points while Navarro bulldozed his way to 19 points and 23 rebounds as the Squires claimed their fifth win in a row and sixth in seven outings.

All it took Letran to blow the game out of reach was a massive start, outscoring AU in the opening quarter, 37-18, and never really got threatened the rest of the way.

And the Padilla-Navarro duo was at the center of it all as they ignited that early breakaway by combining for 18 points in that key stretch.

The Braves fell to 1-6.

In the first game, San Sebastian used a big fourth-quarter performance to turn back College of St. Benilde, 76-67, that kept the Staglets inside the top four with a 5-2 slate.

Rion Porcadas fired 22 points he laced with five thundering triples while Jhun Penaverde and Ruvic Danag added 19 and 12 points, respectively.