By: Aulyn Gwen Bergado, Jeffrey Gatdula
The Letran Knights struggled against the empowered Perpetual Altas, failing to secure the win. Photo courtesy of FilOil EcoOil Sports.
Perpetual Altas relied on their second half efforts to carve out a victory against Letran Knights, 81-68, in the FilOil EcoOil Preseason Cup held at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Kurt Reyson still maintained his standing as the top performer for the Knights as he drained 24 markers on top of three assists and two boards.
Kevin Santos also chipped in 12 points with six boards, four assists and a steal, while Deo Cuajao and Rafael Go contributed 10 points apiece.
Perpetual Altas helmed a good start, initially trailing the Letran but the knights found their momentum with a first tally from Rafael Go.
Team effort boost letran score as Go caught the ball one again tying the score at 14. Reyson delivered consecutive three-pointers, propelling Letran's lead and conclude the first quarter with a score of 20-17.
Letran stretched its lead early at the second but Team Altas relentlessly chased the score tying at 31 with a Razon freethrow.
As both sides fiercely holding each other off, Kevin Santos clutched the ring, with a free basket from Rafael Go, allowing Letran to maintian a narrow lead of 36-33 in second frame.
The Second half saw the Knights waning its performance as Perpetual's fought its way back. Pivot baskets from Jun Roque led the Altas to outpace the Intramuros-based Squad.
A triple from Ferreras stretched their lead by as much as 14.
Bryan Alarcon managed to close the lead by two points on the last canto but the Altas continued their scoring prowess in the hands of veteran Jielo Razon.
Razon paced the Altas with 19 points while getting ample help from Arthur Roque and Christian Pagaran who churned out 19 and 12, respectively.