MUCH has been said about reigning two-time champion Letran’s inconsistencies this season.
But the Knights got the job done yesterday and will have a chance to put all doubts to rest in the Big Dance against College of St. Benilde Blazers.
With Brent Paraiso taking charge in the stretch, Letran pulled off a 67-58 victory over Lyceum in their Final Four battle in the 98th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
The fourth seed Pirates closed in on 55-60 on a Shawn Umali free throw with 2:23 left but Paraiso scored five straight points, the last two on a floater that gave the No. 2 Knights a 65-55 edge in the last 1:03 that finally took the fight out of Lyceum.
Fran Yu led Letran with 11 points and three rebounds, while King Caralipio chipped in 10 markers, 12 boards, and five assists.
Paraiso and Louie Sangalang also finished with nine points each for the Knights, who made up for a stunning 71-87 setback to Jose Rizal University last Wednesday.
The Intramuros-based cagers forged a best-of-3 finals showdown with College of St. Benilde beginning this Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Earlier, No. 1 CSB outlasted fourth-ranked San Beda University 62-61 to reach the finals for the first time in 20 years.
“Siyempre masaya and thank you Lord kasi we’re given the chance to play in the finals. Iyong three-peat, secondary, siyempre nandiyan iyong bonus natin kapag nanalo,” Letran coach Bonnie Tan said. “Again, kami naman we take our game day by day.
“We’re not thinking of sweeps basta kung ano ibinigay sa amin, we’ll work on it and we’re happy na at least nakaabot kami ulit sa finals,” he added.
The Red Lions threatened at 59-60 on a James Kwekuteye three-pointer with 14.3 seconds to go.
Blazers guard Migz Oczon calmly sank two pressure-packed free throws that pushed CSB’s cushion to 62-59, only 12.7 ticks before Kwekuteye missed on two triple tries even as San Beda’s Damie Cuntapay scored on a putback that pegged the final count with just .4 of a second left.
Oczon fired 17 points on three treys, hauled down six rebounds, and had an assist for the Blazers, while Jimboy Pasturan added 16 markers, four caroms, and two feeds.
MVP candidate Will Gozum also had 10 and 11 for CSB, which scored a fitting follow-up to an 82-73 win also over the Lions eight days ago.
“It’s a good feeling. To be honest I told the team I was happy to make the Final Four but for me my minimum is to make the finals, at least. At least now we achieved that goal but now that we’re here, we want to achieve more,” Blazers tactician Charles Tiu said.
“It’s a great feeling and I give a lot of credit to the players and my coaching staff. I don’t think they get a lot of credit but really the players deserve the credit. They played so hard and poured their hearts out.”
The Knights enjoyed a 30-28 buffer at the halfway mark and still led 50-45 heading into the final stanza.
Enoch Valdez carried the fight for Lyceum with 15 points and 11 caroms, while Mclaude Guadaña had 14 markers and three rebounds.
Omar Larupay and Renzo Navarro could only muster six and two points, respectively in their swan songs for the Pirates.
CSB took a 34-31 lead at the break that it padded to 49-36 on a Gozum putback at the 4:05 mark of the third canto.
San Beda refused to wilt and sliced the deficit to 48-54 entering the final 10 minutes.
Jacob Cortez paced the Lions with 13 points and two rebounds, while Kwekuteye got 11 markers and nine boards.
