Letran leaned on the charities of Fran Yu in the dying seconds to bail the Knights out of trouble and carry them into the second phase of the stepladder semifinals of the 95th National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday.
Yu gave the third-seeded Knights another scoring opportunity in the last 10.3 seconds off Ken Villapando’s foul as his two freebies handed the Knights an 85-80 triumph over the no. 4 seeded Stags yesterday at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The Knights, who are in the semis for the second straight season, will now meet the no. 2 seed Lyceum Pirates in the next stage of the playoffs on Friday.
“I gave my trust to the graduating players of team. Like with Jerrick (Balanza) and Bonbon (Batiller). Binigay ko na sa mga players ko ang fate ng team,” said Knights coach Bonnie Tan.
The Stags, with RK Ilagan making a career-high 36 points, clawed their way out of the 17-point deficit in the closing minutes of third, with Ilagan knocking in 13 points in the last canto.
Ilagan’s triple with 1:40 left gave the Knights a scare as it allowed the Stags to threaten by one, 80-81.
But a layup from King Caralipio off Edson Batiller’s assist gave a Letran a three-point edge, 83-80, in the remaining 1:06.
Balanza, showing the way for the Knights with 15 points, blew a chance to put the Knights out of range when he missed a triple in the final 55.6 seconds.
With Balanza’s miss, the Stags could have sent the contest into overtime.
“Naging positive pa rin ang nangyari nung na-miss ko iyung dalawa kong free throws dahil naipasok din ni Fran ang free throws niya,” said Balanza, one of the team’s skippers.
A loose ball error from Stags’ cager Alvin Capobres with 24 ticks left saw San Sebastian’s luck slipping away, as it gave back possession to the Knights, who held on to the ball in the remaining time.
After Balanza bungled two charities with 13.3 seconds, Yu’s charities handed the Knights a five-point cushion in the next play.
Allyn Bulanadi shot 15 points for the Stags, while Villapando added 8.
Meanwhile, Yukien Andrada top-scored with 23 points for the San Beda Red Cubs as they put away the La Salle Green Hills Greenies, 82-79, to claim the first finals’ slot in the junior division.
Andrada had a big help from teammates Rhayyan Amsali and Justine Sanchez, who came up with double-double outputs in helping lead the Red Cubs to their first finals appearance in three years.
The count was tied at 76-all with less than a minute left when Andrada put the Red Cubs ahead on three-point play following a miss by Sanchez.
Two more charities came from Andrada off Kobe Palencia’s foul handed San Beda a five-point edge, 81-76, with 20.4 second to go.
“Sila ‘yung mga beterano sa team kaya dapat talagang magpakita silang ‘di nape-pressure sa endgame,” said Red Cubs’ coach Manu Inigo said post-game.
JC Macalalag, picking up the cudgels in place of injured RC Calimag, had 23 points for the Greenies.
The third-seeded San Sebastian College Staglets kept their final hopes alive when they repulsed the second-seeded Lyceum Junior Pirates, 84-75.
Milo Janao banged in a game-high 15 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Staglets.
The Junior Pirates, with John Barba making 24 points, will play the Staglets in a rubber match this Friday.
“One game at a time lang. Who knows? Baka ibigay pa rin sa amin ‘yung panalo,” said Staglets’ mentor Melo Banua.