NCAA: Cardinals blast Knights, 66-51

Mapua bounced back from a disappointing loss to defending champion San Sebastian drubbing next-door-neighbor Letran, 66-51, in the 86th NCAA basketball tournament on Friday at The Arena in San Juan. The Cardinals, behind Macky Acosta, played solidly in the fourth quarter to secure their third win in five games and remain in solo fourth behind Jose Rizal University’s 4-2 card. Acosta was the lone double-digit scorer for the Intramuros-based cagers with 20 points behind a 5-of-8 shooting from downtown. His game-long efforts impressed coach Chito Victolero. "He was too eager early in the game so I told him to relax and focus on the game plan," said Victolero. In Mapua's 68-49 loss to San Sebastian exactly a week ago, Acosta was held scoreless in a game that saw the Cardinals disappeared offensively after even taking a slim lead in the third period. Chito Victolero chose not to use Allan Mangahas in that loss when he benched his ace guard as a form of disciplinary action. The 2008 Rookie of the Year (ROY) winner Mangahas made up for it by tallying five points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 29 minutes as a starter. "He proved something again that he was Mapua and Mapua is Allan," Victolero said. "But I'm very happy that he and the rest of the players were able to respond to the challenge after that loss to San Sebastian," he added. Jonathan Banal, also a former ROY awardee in 2007, made eight points, seven rebounds and two assists, center Jason Pascual came off the bench for seven points and six rebounds while Erwin Cornejo tallied six points and nine boards. The loss sent Letran down to a 1-4 record for seventh place making it the Knights’ worst start in years, perhaps even in the coach Louie Alas-era. Point guard Franz Dysam had 12 points and four assists and Jaypee Belencion hit 10 points and seven rebounds. Big man Jam Cortes also contributed seven points and 13 boards for Letran, which played minus top scorer Kevin Alas because of a knee contusion. Alas, the 2009 ROY, incurred the injury in Letran's 77-60 loss to San Beda on July 21. Mapua thus ended a three-game skid against Letran as they beat the beat the Knights for the first time since the second round of the 2008 season.– JVP, GMANews.TV