The Letran Knights overcame a twice-to-win disadvantage and toppled the San Sebastian Stags with a 73-70 win in their semifinal rubbermatch yesterday in the 88th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan City.
Jonathan Belorio and Jam Cortes preserved the victory with cold-blooded freethrows down the stretch that helped seal the Knights’ entry to the finals, where they will meet the top-seeded San Beda Red Lions.
The Stags held a twice-to-beat advantage in the semis for finishing second after the elimination round. The Knights finished third but won all of their games against the Stags in the eliminations.
Nothing was different in the semis as the Knights took care of two crucial wins against the Stags to make it back to the finals since 2007.
While the big men delivered with in the last 24 seconds of the game, it was the smallest guy on the floor that stood the tallest as Mark Cruz scored 10 of his 20 points in the payoff period.
The Stags were leading, 56-54, heading to the last period but the Knights gained the upper hand with a 9-2 run for a 65-60 lead. The Stags countered with six unanswered points before Cruz came up big with four straight points to push the Knights back in front.
San Sebastian last tasted the lead at 70-69 after makes by Ian Sangalang and Dexter Maiquez. Calvin “The Beast” Abueva even had a chance to give them a cushion but balked with two missed freethrows.
Belorio was fouled and sank the go-ahead free-throw. Stags’ wingman, Ronald Pascual, missed on his three-point try and Cortes was sent to the line where he made two more freebies for a 73-70 lead.
The Stags had one last shot at tying the game but Abueva could not hit a threepointer as time expired.