Knight Letran. NCAA PHOTO
There’s a new boss in the NCAA Season 97 men’s basketball tournament.
This should have been an old truth, but it took a long time for the defending champion Letran to reach the top.
The Knights finally took the lead in the tournament on Saturday after defeating longtime leader St. Benilde with a 74-66 victory at the San Juan Arena.
“It’s all about the experience of my players. They have championship experience and that is really helpful in stressful situations,” said coach Bonnie Tan.
Kurt Reyson tripled, 65-63, with just 53.4 seconds left, highlighted by the Knights’ 12-3 finishing kick. Louie Sangalang completed a three-pointer to end the game, 68-63, with 20.7 ticks to go.
Lyceum wins
Letran notched his 11th win before three losses after having his eighth straight win while St. Benilde slipped to 9-3, with two of those losses going to the Knights.
“I can’t be so disappointed, we fought and really gave them a good game. We missed them in the end, we missed the bounces when we needed them. That’s what’s happening,” said Blazers coach Charles Tiu.
In the other game, Lyceum beat Perpetual Help, 86-82.
Pirates improve to 9-5 on the leaderboard.
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