COACH Bonnie Tan of reigning two-time champion Letran repeatedly warned his troops they could not afford to simply take it easy in the second round of the season.
The Knights showed up with a renewed zest and turned Tan’s urgings to game yesterday.
Bolstered by a furious fourth quarter breakaway, Letran ripped Perpetual Help 74-59 to stretch its winning run to four and gain a piece of third in the 98th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Brent Paraiso sizzled with a game-high 16 points built on three three-pointers, to go with seven rebounds, and three assists for the Knights, while Louie Sangalang notched a double-double of 10 markers and 10 boards.
King Caralipio and Kurt Reyson also combined for 18 points for Letran, which scored a fitting follow-up to a 72-68 decision over Emilio Aguinaldo College seven days ago and rose to 7-3 in a tie with Lyceum.
The Altas absorbed their third loss in a row, counting a 52-71 thumping at the hands of San Beda University last Wednesday, and tumbled to 4-6.
“We’re expecting lahat ng teams sa second round ay naghahabol ng panalo. Talagang kumbaga when they play parang wala ng bukas so that’s what we anticipated sa lahat ng teams, hindi lang sa Perpetual,” Tan said.
“We’re expecting talaga na walang baby, baby ngayon, wala ng adjustments, go hard and finish strong na talaga. Iyon ang mindset that we instilled to our players,” he added.
The Intramuros-based crew took a 37-33 lead at the halfway mark and pushed it to 50-40 heading into the final stanza.
The Knights uncorked a vicious 21-3 blitz that took the fight out of Perpetual.
A Pao Javillonar basket stretched the difference to as much as 71-43 with 3:05 left.
Jielo Razon carried the fight for the Altas with 13 points and six caroms, while Joey Barcuma got 11 and six.
