SAN JUAN, Metro Manila — In what seemed an easy victory in their first outing of preserving their title crown, defending champion Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL) had to sneak past a gritty Jose Rizal University (JRU) squad in overtime to open its three-peat bid in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, September 14, at the FilOil EcoOil Center here.

Exploding with a career-high 31 points, including a key three-pointer in the final five seconds of regulation that sent the game into overtime, spitfirish shooting guard Kurt Reyson led the Letran Knights even as rookie Kobe Monje played big for his team laced with a crucial rebound after a miss by JRU’s William Sy in his second free throw and converted it into a twinner with 28.1 seconds left that gave the defending two-time champions the lead.

But it was Reyson’s teammate Fran Yu who secured CSJL’s 101-97 win over the Heavy Bombers as he calmly nailed three out of four free throws in the final 13.5 seconds of the game.

Meanwhile, in the second game of the day, Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) outclassed Mapua University (MU) to score its first win, 76-67, by limiting the Cardinals to a measly 29.2 percent from the field.

“We know that Mapua has a good outside game so we really had to adjust on defense. Coach told us that if someone is left on defense we have to pick them up,” LPU star guard John Barba noted after his team’s victory that saw the Pirates weather an attempt by the Cardinals to cut down their lead in a half-time rally.

Barba finished with 16 points for Lyceum while teammate Claude Guadaña added 13 more to redeem the Pirates’ 86-69 loss to Colllege of Saint Benilde last Sunday, September 11.
Paolo Hernandez paced the Cardinals, who beat the San Beda Red Lions in the opener, also on Sunday, with 16 points while Toby Agustin and Warren Bonifacio had 12 markers each.

The Scores:

First Game

Letran (101) — Reyson 31, Caralipio 14, Paraiso 13, Yu 12, Sangalang 9, Monje 9, Santos 6, Olivario 3, Go 2, Miclat 2, Ariar 0, Guarino 0.

Jose Rizal (97) — Amores 19, Miranda 18, Celis 14, Dela Rosa 14, Guiab 10, Dionisio 7, Arenal 7, Medina 5, Sy 3, Delos Santos 0, Abaoag 0.

Quarters: 19-27, 49-41, 74-71, 89-89, 101-97.

Second Game

Lyceum (76) — Barba 16, Guadana 13, Valdez 9, Navarro 8, Bravo 7, Larupay 6, Penafiel 6, Montano 5, Umali 3, Cunanan 3, Vinoya 0, Aviles 0.

Mapua (67) — Hernandez 16, Bonifacio 12, Agustin 12, Lacap 7, A. Gamboa 7, Pido 4, Cuenco 3, Mercado 2, Garcia 2, Salenga 1, Parinas 1, Soriano 0.

Quarterscores: 15-19; 39-33; 59-49; 76-67.