The Letran Knights are taken downhill after losing to the San Sebastian Golden Stags. Photo courtesy of Patrick Louie Cruz of The LANCE.
The Letran Knights crashed to their 13th loss in the NCAA Season 99, this time in the hands of San Sebastian Golden Stags, the only team that they have beaten in the first round.
In their match up earlier today at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City, the Golden Stags vented ire on the Knights, 75-94, to improve to 5-9 card while the Knights stayed at the deep end of the standings with a 1-13 slate.
Adding to the Knights’ growing woes in the season is the long list of injuries that the players have sustained with Nicko Fajardo being the newest addition, following Kurt Reyson who has a hamstring injury and Neil Guarino who has suffered MCL in their match against Benilde.
Rookie Stephen Garupil led the Knights with 16 markers on top of six boards and two steals, while he was backstopped by Kobe Monje and Rafael Go churned out 13 points apiece.
San Sebastian was just too keen on avenging their first-round loss against the defending champions by not letting Letran take the lead throughout the match.
The Golden Stags laid the first stones in the match as they gained a 17-point cushion through the combined labor of Paeng Are and Alex Desoyo.
The Knights continued to look for answers to the scorching offense brought by the Quiapo-based team as the Golden Stags showed off their scoring prowess in the third quarter.
Garupil and Monje tried to pump some life back to the Knights but they just could not make the ends meet for them.
Leading the Golden Stags were Are who tallied game-high 23 points with six boards and six assists and Romel Calahat with 21 markers on his own.
Though the Knights are out of the Final Four contention, they still have four games left before they conclude the elimination round, against JRU (November 11), Arellano (November 14), Benilde (November 19) and San Beda (November 24.)
The Scores:
Quarter scores: 25-22, 38-51, 50-70, 75-94.
LETRAN (75) -- Garupil 16, Monje 13, Go 13, Cuajao 8, Javillonar 8, Ariar 6, Bautista 4, Fajardo 3, Bojorcelo 2, Bataller 2, Nunag 0, Jumao-as 0, Brillantes 0, Santos 0.
SAN SEBASTIAN (94) -- Are 23, Calahat 21, Desoyo 13, Gabat 13, Felebricio 10, Escobido 7, Una 6, Sumoda 1, Shanoda 0, Chuidian 0, Velasco 0, Singson 0.