Photo by Gelay Davocol
By Carl Argarin
The Letran Knights grabbed their second win behind Larry Muyang and Christian Fajarito's dominant performance against the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 74-58, in the NCAA Season 94 held at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
After trailing the Heavy Bombers for the entire first quarter, the Knights were able to separate themselves after JP Calvo drained a triple in the initial part of the second quarter to give Letran its first lead of the ball game, 25-24.
From there, Christian Fajarito scored eight straight points for the Knights to further bury JRU. Meanwhile, in the third quarter, Larry Muyang made his presence felt and scored 11 points during that span. Muyang rallied the Knights to their biggest lead of the ball game with 27 points.
However, despite big games from his enforcers, Letran head coach Jeff Napa believes that the two pillars still have a lot of room to improve on.
“Marami pang mai-improve ‘yung mga batang yan its a matter lang kung pano nila maiha-handle ‘yung adversity saka yung sitwasyon kaya nandito kami para i-guide sila,” he explained.
“Syempre masaya pero di pa ko kuntento, kelangan maging consistent kami and ‘yan ‘yung kelangan namin practice-in sa practice,” he added.
The Knights reigned underneath; scoring 50 points inside and grabbing 55 boards, compared to JRU’s 14 and 33. Muyang and Fajarito combined for a total of 28 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks.
Letran will host the vastly improved College of St. Benilde Blazers on August 2 at the Blessed Antonio Varona Gymnasium for this year’s NCAA on Tour.
"Ang laki ng pinagbago ng Benilde, kaya kailangan talaga naming mag ready, ngayon pa lang yun na yung mindset namin para di naman tayo mapahiya sa bahay namin,” said Napa.
The scores:
CSJL (74) – Fajarito 14, Muyang 14, Calvo 9, Quinto 8, Balanza 7, Ambohot 7, Mandreza 4, Balagasay 3, Celis 3, Batiller 2, Taladua 2, Agbong 1, Yu 0, Banez 0
JRU (58) – Mendoza 16, Esguerra 11, David 10, Miranda 9, Dela Virgen 6, Bordon 4, Mallari 2, Padua 0, Silvarez 0, Dela Rosa 0, Ramos 0, Estrella 0
QUARTER SCORES: 19-22, 39-31, 65-43, 74-58