Joel Cagulangan stepped it up in the final period. He poured in 13 of his 25-point output in the last 10 minutes to help propel the La Salle Greenhills Junior Blazers to an 82-78 upset of the San Beda Red Cubs last on July 18.
This handed La Salle Greenhills its third straight win, and the solo lead of the 93rd National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Junior Basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan.
Cagulangan struck four times in the last 5:32. His two penetrations and three charities allowed the Junior Blazers to overtake a 67-68 deficit.
The Junior Blazers went on to grab 76-70 advantage with 54.8 ticks to go. Historically, the Junior Blazers had never beaten the Red Cubs in six seasons.
LSGH coach Marvin Bienvenida said the team needs to stay on their toes now that’s on top.
“It’s an early lead. And it’s too early in the season. It’s good to have a 3-0 record. But, we don’t want to settle for this,” said Bienvenida.
The last time they did it was in 2011 when the Andre Paras-led Junior Blazers prevailed over the
Letran 85, EAC 81
Keifer Cordero bounced back from bad game, shooting 21 points for the Letran Squires in their 85-81 beating of the Emilio Aguinaldo College Brigadiers.
He shot nine points in the second period as the Squires took a 44-36 edge, and went on to finish with their first win in two outings.
He combined for 13 points with Miguel Labrador as the Squires moved to a share of fourth place.
They have the same 1-1 card with Lyceum, Arellano University and Perpetual Help.
Letran coach Raymund Valenzona said they had a bad game.
But good defense allowed them to bounce back.
The Squires enjoyed a 79-63 lead in the last 6:17 off Kobe Monje’s layup. But, the Brigadiers cut it down, 84-79, behind C-Jay Boado’s outside shooting.
“Masama ang game namin. But gumana ang defense sa huli,” said Valenzona.
