Letran seeks to display its vaunted inside strength as it clashes with an unpredictable College of St. Benilde today in the 94th NCAA basketball tournament at the Letran Gym inside the gated walls of Intramuros, Manila.
Led by Larry Muyang and Chris Fajarito, the Knights pounded it inside and demolished the Jose Rizal Bombers, 74-58, Friday to jump to a share of third spot with the Perpetual Help Altas with a 2-1 (win-loss) record apiece.
Muyang and Fajarito lorded it over inside as they finished with 14 points in that one-sided triumph.
The Muralla-based dribblers will have a chance to keep No. 3 on their own with a victory over the Blazers in their 4 p.m. encounter while inching closer to leader Lyceum of the Philippines U (5-0) and No. 2 San Beda (3-0).
Thanks to their size and heft edge, the Knights are the league’s second-best team in points allowed as they shackled their opponents to 70.67 points a game, second only to San Beda’s league-best 60 points an outing.
“We hope to continue to take advantage of our size the way we did in our past games,” said Letran coach Jeff Napa.
Letran’s bigs are expected to face an acid test as they try to handle 6’7” Clement Leutcheu of Cameroon, who powered his way to 20 points and 14 rebounds in lifting CSB to an 81-66 rout of JRU to improve to an even 2-2 record.
The Knights will host the Blazers on their home turf for the second straight season.
CSB coach TY Tang is hoping for a different result this time around.
“We lost to them last year also in Letran and it was a close game. Hopefully, it would be a different turnout on Thursday,” said Tang.