Letran Knights repulse Mapua Cardinals, 84-80

The Letran Knights scored a hard-earned 84-80 victory over the Mapua Cardinals in the second game of the 83rd National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum. RJ Jazul was named by the television panel as the game's best player after he scored 23 big points, six rebounds and five assists, to help his team register their first victory of the tournament. Letran was leading comfortably at 78-67 midway in the 4th quarter when the Mapua Cardinals, behind main man Kelvin de la Peña, Sean Co and rookie Jonathan Banal uncorked a 13-3 run to close the gap at one point, 81-80, with less than 30 seconds remaining in the ball-game. However, a free-throw each by Jazul and Peña after successive fouls by Mapua, push the lead back to four for Letran, 84-80, to put the game away for them in what was billed as the “Battle of Intramuros." The Mapua Cardinals, in the first half, committed 13 turnovers as compared to Letran's nine. Mapua, however, had more rebounds, 19 to Letran 18. The assists department was also in favor for Mapua in the first half with 11 compared to Letran's three. The game was very close from the start to finish with Letran taking the first half 54-49. Mapua applied a two-three zone against Letran's offensive patterns but time and again the Knights were able to break down the defense. Quarterscores: 22-14, 34-33, 64-59 - GMANews.TV