LETRAN drew firepower from its bench when John Quinto and JP Calvo struggled to beat Emilio Aguinaldo College, 91-82, on Tuesday to strengthen its grip of the No. 3 spot in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Jeremiah Taladua and seldom-used Fran Yu came off the bench and responded with impunity to score career highs of 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the Knights who improved to a 9-4 won-lost record and stay a game clear of the College of Saint Benilde Blazers (8-5).
“It’s a good win for us, at least we are still one game ahead [of the Blazers],” Letran Coach Jeff Napa said. “But we can’t stay complacent, we still have to work and prepare for our next game.”
Nico Galvelo also posted a career-best 15 points in three games since he took over the starting role from Jerrick Balanza, who is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor in his brain.
The bench and Galvelo’s efforts made up for the forgettable performances of Quinto and Calvo, who averaged 15.1 points a game entering the game but managed only nine and five points, respectively, after combining for 20 missed attempts out of 24 tries.
“The two struggled,” said Napa referring to Quinto and Calvo. “But I’m confident someone will step up and the three [Galvelo, Taladua and Yu] stepped up with their instant offense. The Generals slipped to their 11th defeat against two wins.
Taladua and Yu went on a scoring tear and ignited one big run after another in the second half that broke the game wide open.
Calvelo unloaded 12 points in the first half that gave Letran a 36-32 advantage at the break.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza