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| Lance Nitura clenches his fist in triumph as Mapua holds on against Letran. Peter Baltazar |
SAN JUAN, MM—Mapua gutted out a 69-67 overtime win over Letran in the NCAA Season 102 men’s basketball tournament at FilOil Centre on Monday.
The Cardinals extended their win streak to four for a 4-3 improvement in Group A.
“It was a grind-it-out and close game until the end, but we’re thankful we had the breaks of the game,” coach Chito Victolero said.
“All the sacrifices and tough losses made us learn a lot. There was a reason why we lost in situations like those na panalo na, natatalo pa.”
Lance Nitura sank the biggest shot of the extra period when he buried a triple that gave the Cardinals the decisive 68-64 lead with 2:09 left in the game.
In regulation, Letran sat in the driver’s seat, 59-58, after a Justin Cargo layup at the 3:25 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals had several chances to take back the lead, but they were unable to buy a bucket for over two minutes, urging them to foul Justine Hugo with 56.2 seconds remaining.
Hugo went perfect from the line to give the Knights a 61-58 advantage.
Ivan Lazarte took matters into his own hands and sank a bucket plus a foul with 52 ticks to go. He sank the freebie to tie the game at 61-all.
After a lengthy review later in crunch time, the Knights were given possession with 3.6 seconds remaining.
Cargo, however, fumbled the ball, sending the game to overtime.
Yam Concepcion paced Mapua with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds in the win, while Nitura, Cyrus Cuenco, Jamal Diaz, and Lazarte all had 11 markers apiece as well.
Chad Gammad top-scored for Letran with 18 points while Jimboy Estrada had 13 as the Knights tripped to a 4-3 card in Group B.
The scores:
Mapua 69 - Concepcion 11, Nitura 11, Cuenco 11, Diaz 11, Lazarte 11, M. Nitura 6, Reyes 3, Igliane 2, Bernabe 2, Dones 1, Mendoza 0, Liwanag 0, Razon 0
Letran 67 - Gammad 18, Estrada 13, Cargo 10, Montecillo 6, Walker 6, Santos 6, Buensalida 4, Hugo 4, Reyes 0
Quarters: 20-15, 38-30, 53-49, 61-61, 69-67
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