Defending champion Letran zoomed to its sixth straight win with a 19-point routing of San Sebastian, 69-50, in the second round of the NCAA Season 98 men's basketball tournament Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Fran Yu led the Knights this time on the offensive end, dropping a game-high of 19 points built on three triples along with five rebounds and two steals while Brent Paraiso added 13 points, four rebounds and three steals.
After leading by as many as nine points by the end of the third quarter, Letran, which improved to a 9-3 record, stepped on the gas in the fourth quarter to put some distance against the trailing San Sebastian.
The fiery Yu, who was also responsible for sparking his own 8-0 run early in the fourth period, made 11 points in the Knights' entire 20-10 run in the payoff period.
Kurt Reyson and Louie Sangalang joined in the fray with eight points apiece with the former adding four rebounds, four assists, and two steals and the latter grabbing 11 rebounds.
Pao Javillonar was also a force to be reckoned with in the paint with seven points and 11 rebounds.
The error-plagued Stags just could not put a stop to the Knights' offense as the defending champions still led by as many as 16 points down to the last minute of the payoff period.
Adding salt to injury would be the free throws of Andrey Guarinio and Enrico Bojorcelo in the waning seconds which enabled Letran to mark the 19-point margin and take the victory on a high note.
The Knights also clamped down on its defense from the get-go and forced the Stags, who fell to a 3-6 slate, to commit 21 turnovers.
Kenneth Villapando paced the San Sebastian with eight points and nine rebounds as no Stags were able to breach the double-digit mark. Rhinwill Yambing also had eight points for San Sebastian.