FilOil: Cruz's 27 powers Letran past Mapua

Letran and Mapua, neighbors inside the walled city of Intramuros, played minus their star players but Mark Cruz stepped up to lift the Knights to victory. Cruz finished with 27 points to power the Letran Knights to a 79-55 crushing of the Mapua Cardinals Friday in the 2012 FilOil Preseason Cup at The Arena in San Juan City. The Cardinals played minus dynamic forward Gab Banal and defensive stalwart Mike Parala. The Alas brothers—Kevin and Junjun—failed to suit up for the Knights. Cruz scored 20 of Letran's 32 points in the third quarter, leading the Knights' furious second-half rally. Mapua trailed by seven points at the turn. Cruz sparked Letran's breakaway with a rare four-point play. He then scored all 11 points in a closing 11-2 spurt to give the Knights a 62-43 spread entering the final canto. The Cardinals, at the start of the fourth, tried to prevent the Letran guards from causing further damage but to no avail as the Knights kept their lead intact. Mapua's offense also did not help their cause after scoring only 12 points in the quarter. Mapua guards Andretti Stevens and Jumel Chien also fouled out of the game. Letran coach Louie Alas credited the contributions by his big men with Jonathan Belorio, Jam Cortes and Raymond Almazan combining for 25 markers. "Wala si Parala at si Banal. We were lucky so we maximized their absence. We also had a good third quarter run." said Alas. Without Banal and Parala, Mapua had to rely on Josan Nimes' herky-jerky play for offense, as well as contributions from reserves Jesse Saitanan, Michael Abad and Mark Brana, who combined for 13 points and 16 rebounds. Although Nimes logged a team-high 22 points, he looked tired throughout the latter part of the match. — JVP, GMA News Scores: