Recap: Mapua Continues Woes, Drops 4th Straight, 67-62, Against Letran

by Raymund Tamayo

Mapua on a four-game losing streak after getting beaten by Letran. Photo credit: NCAA, GMA

The Mapua Cardinals succumbed to a fourth straight defeat in the NCAA Season 98 Men's Basketball Tournament, dropping a scrappy 67-62 game against perennial rival Letran Knights in a rematch of last season's championship at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Tuesday afternoon.

Mapua struggled to score throughout the highly-physical game. They even went without a field goal in the first seven and a half minutes of the fourth quarter as offensive woes continues to be a trend for the team this season.

Down by ten points at that time, the Cardinals were able to unleash an 8-0 run to trim the gap to two points, 61-59, with 71 seconds remaining in the game.

However, Letran' Fran Yu sank a three-pointer to extend the lead back to five points, 64-59, time down to 46 seconds.

Mapua's Jopet Soriano scored a quick two on the ensuing play to make it a three-point game, 64-61. But the Knight's Kurt Reyson knocked down two free throws to make it a five-point lead once again, 66-61, with 34 seconds left.

The two teams then split their next attempts from the charity stripe for the final count.

It was a highly-physical match that saw the two squads accumulating 55 fouls combined. It included a disqualifying foul by Letran's Brent Paraiso, who dropped an elbow on the back of the head of Mapua's Adrian Nocum with a little over five minutes left in the game.

Brian Lacap paced the Carinals with 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals. His teammate Japeth Salenga had 11 points, three rebounds, and two steals.

Yu led the Knights with 15 points, five assists, four boards, and two steals. Paolo Javilionar backed him up with 14 points and three rebounds.

Mapua will look to end their losing streak against the JRU Bombers on Friday noon. Letran goes against the San Beda Red Lions in the second game of the day at 3:00 pm.

Here are the scores: 

Letran 67 - Yu 15, Javillonar 14, Caralipio 8, Reyson 8, Monje 7, Sangalang 6, Paraiso 5, Santos 3, Olivario 1, Miclat 0, Tolentino 0.

Mapua 62 - Lacap 12, Salenga 11, Hernandez 9, Nocum 8, Soriano 6, Pido 6, Bonifacio 4, Gamboa 4, Parinas 2, Garcia 0, Igliane 0.

Quarterscores: 10-15, 32-33, 46-48, 67-62.