Even with a depleted lineup, the maturity and experience of the Letran Knights showed on the floor as they carved out an 81-67 subduing of the College of Saint Benilde Blazers to secure their third straight title on Sunday at Ynares Center.
Playing without court general Fran Yu hardly bothered the Knights as they charged from start to finish in Game 3 of the 98th National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s Basketball Tournament.
Finals’ MVP King Carilipio led the assault with 20 points and 10 rebounds to help carry the Knights to their 20th overall cage championship.
Brent Paraiso added 16 points for the Knights, who denied the Blazers a chance to end a 20-year title drought.
“Malaking bagay ang one week of practice sa amin lalo na sa rotation ng mga players,” said Knights’ coach Bonnie Tan, who encouraged members of the team to compensate for the absence of Yu.
It was a challenging finals’ series for the Knights after they lost role players Kobe Monje and Kyle Tolentino to one-game suspensions and still won Game 1, 81-75.
In Game 2, Yu, was disqualified for elbowing Mark Sangco. Yu was later on suspended by the league.
The Blazers won the second game, 76-71, sending the series to a deciding third game.
In the rubber match, the Knights banked on a 10-2 run at the end of the first period, with Carilipio’s two charities setting the tone for the breakaway, as they went on to cut loose from a 17-19 deficit and grab a 24-21 edge.
Carilipio and Kobe Monje, who had seven and six points in the second quarter, led Letran’s huge effort to gain their biggest lead at 17, 43-26, with 4:24 left.
The Blazers tried to rally and managed to come to within 13, 51-64, off James Pasturan’s three-pointer in the final 1:31 of the third.
But Season MVP Will Gozum got into foul trouble with his fourth foul and the Blazers struggled in the final quarter because of this.
Gozum, who was limited to 10 points, was eventually ejected when he was called for a disqualifying foul with 1:44 remaining in a physical play involving Pao Javillonar, while the Letran Knights led by 11, 77-66.
It was the Knights’ second three-peat for the school. They last did it during the time of Samboy Lim, when they had three consecutive championships from 1982 to 1984.
The Scores:
LETRAN 81 — Caralipio 20, Paraiso 16, Monje 11, Reyson 8, Sangalang 8, Santos 7, Olivario 4, Go 4, Guarino 2, Javillonar 1, Tolentino 0, Bojorcelo 0.
CSB 67 — Corteza 14, Pasturan 10, Gozum 10, Oczon 9, Sangco 6, Nayve 6, Flores 5, Marcos 3, Cullar 2, Carlos 2, Davis 0.
Quarters: 24-21, 51-33, 70-54, 81-67