Generals halt streakin’ Knights
Emilio Aguinaldo College succeeded where seven other teams had failed, thrashing erstwhile unbeaten Letran, 83-69, to revive its semifinal hopes in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.
The Generals pounced on a disorganized Letran crew that played without head coach Aldin Ayo, outscoring the Knights, 31-19, in the last 10 minutes to fashion out the surprise win, their second straight, that put EAC back in the Final Four hunt after a poor 0-5 start.
Remy Morada dished out a memorable game to spearhead the Generals’ breakaway run in the fourth quarter, including a rare four-point play that fended off a late Letran fightback and capped a 12-point burst for an 18-point output.
Morada later dedicated the win to her late mom Lilanie who passed away exactly a year ago yesterday.
Coming into the match, Morada, who actually asked to be stricken off EAC’s roster last season to attend to his then ailing mom in Davao City, struggled with a paltry 3.8-point, 2.40-rebound and 1.8-assist effort but took the perfect time to shine.
“I just want to dedicate this win for my mother,” he said.
Morada also drew solid backup from Cameroonian Laminou Hamadou, who had a monster 20-point, 24-rebound and four-block game a week after dropping 18 points and hauling down 12 boards in EAC’s 77-71 win over San Sebastian.
The Knights, who played minus suspended Ayo, rebounded from a shaky start to post an eight-point lead, 36-28, at the turn but just couldn’t neutralize the charging Generals, who grabbed a 52-50 lead at the end of the third before pouring it all out in the fourth.
Despite the loss, Letran kept the lead at 7-1 with San Beda just behind at 6-1 and Perpetual Help in third at 5-2 while Mapua beat St. Benilde, 76-64, to force a three-way tie for fourth with Jose Rizal U and Arellano with 4-3 marks.
EAC moved to solo seventh at 2-5 with San Sebastian which caught up with St. Benilde at 2-6 after a 77-70 win over Lyceum earlier. The Pirates slid to 1-7. Ayo was suspended for criticizing game officials during their match against the Stags and for throwing a monobloc chair outside their dugout in their match against Lyceum.
Earlier, Michael Calisaan fired a career-best 35 points to power the Stags past the hapless Pirates.
The 6-6 Calisaan, a 20-year-old cousin of former league MVP Ian Sangalang, scored in bunches in transition and spiked his effort with 16 rebounds and two blocks as the Stags snapped out of a five-game skid.
In juniors’ action, Lyceum trounced San Sebastian, 88-82, to hike its record to 5-3 while EAC edged Letran, 72-71, to nail its third win against four defeats.
The Staglets and the Squires fell to 3-5.