SANTOS STRIKES ANEW: Letran flaunts might, sends EAC crashing

Coming up with a monster performance is becoming a habit for Kevin Santos.

A few days after torching College of Saint Benilde with the game-winner, Santos is at it again as he dropped a career performance to lift Letran College to a 75-73 win over upset-conscious Emilio Aguinaldo College in Season 100 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

Santos, a power-playing forward from Pampanga, notched a career-best 17 points on a sizzling 6-of-9 shooting topped with seven rebounds and an incredible six blocks to help the Knights collect their fourth win in six matches on Wednesday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

Santos admitted that he became confident since knocking down the game-winner against erstwhile unbeaten Blazers last Sunday.

“Since the game against Saint Benilde, my confidence has gone up. I’m just trusting coach Allen (Ricardo),” said Santos, who soared with a thunderous dunk in the final 71 seconds to cap their 7-2 rally with a five-point lead, 74-69.

Generals skipper King Gurtiza shaved the lead to four, 70-74, but Deo Cuajao sealed the win by knocking down one of his two free throws in the final 13.6 seconds.

“I was just aggressive on defense and always followed the system. I just stay ready whenever my name is called.”

Ricardo, however, reminded his boys to match the Generals’ toughness inside the court.

“The word for today’s game is toughness. I told them we had to match the toughness of EAC no matter what,” Ricardo said.

“Kevin is at the point where he was able to finetune himself inside the court and knows his role in the offensive and defensive end.”

Cuajao scored 14 points while rookie Jimboy Estrada dropped 10 points behind a 5-of-8 shooting clip for the Knights, who are emerging as a solid contender that could give heavyweights like Saint Benilde and reigning champion San Beda University a run for their money.

Gurtiza fired 19 points for the Generals, who were sent crashing a few days after shocking San Beda for the first time in franchise history, 68-55, last week.

In the first game, Jose Rizal University (JRU) eked out a 92-89 win over Arellano University.

Up by six, 91-85, the Chiefs threatened to steal the game away after big baskets from Jeadan Ongotan and Ernest Geronimo with 7.4 seconds left in the game.

MJ Raymundo then scored one of his two free throws to push the lead back to three, with 6.7 seconds left.

Renzo Abiera’s game-tying triple in the dying seconds bounced off the rim as Lance Benitez grabbed the rebound to ice the battle.

Raymundo scored 21 points as the Heavy Bombers picked up their second win in six games.

JRU mentor Louie Gonzalez was happy to survive the Chiefs’ last-minute push.

“Knowing the brand of game of Arellano, it doesn’t matter if they are winning or trailing. They will keep on pushing,” Gonzalez said.

“It’s a good thing we were up by 10 points in the last 50 seconds and thank God we were able to survive that one.”

The Scores:

First game:

JRU (92) — Raymundo 21, Argente 20, Guiab 18, Barrera 14, Medina 5, Panapanaan 4, Pangilinan 3, Benitez 2, Mosqueda 2, Lozano 2, Sarmiento 1, Ferrer 0, De Leon 0, Samontanes 0.

ARELLANO (89) — Ongotan 20, Capulong 15, Valencia 15, Vinoya 10, Camay 9, Abiera 8, Hernal 6, Borromeo 2, Geronimo 2, Libang 2, Estacio 0, Espiritu 0, Miller 0, Rosalin 0.

QUARTERS: 27-23, 49-48, 63-63, 92-89.

Second game:

LETRAN (75) — Santos 17, Cuajao 14, Estrada 11, Javillonar 10, Montecillo 9, Miller 8, Nunag 4, Jumao-As 2, Tagotongan 0, Galoy 0, Dimaano 0, Pradella 0, Baliling 0.

EAC (73) — Gurtiza 19, Loristo 11, Jacob 11, Doromal 7, Oftana 6, Ochavo 4, Pagsanjan 4, Luciano 3, Bacud 3, Lucero 2, Bagay 2, Postanes 1, Quinal 0, Devara 0, Umpad 0.

QUARTERS: 25-15, 47-33, 60-56, 75-73.