THE Letran Knights play host to the College of St. Benilde (CSB) Blazers in this week’s edition of the touring game caravan of Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Letran, victorious in its last game that halted for it a two-game slide, takes on suddenly skidding CSB in the lone seniors game for the “NCAA on Tour” today set at 4 p.m. at the Knights’ Muralla gym.
The Knights (2-3) return to the floor today after a brief turnaround following their 82-75 win over the Arellano Chiefs last Tuesday.
Their victory allowed them to barge back into the win column after bowing down in their previous two matches.
Big man Jeo Ambohot anchored Letran’s skid-busting win over Arellano, tallying 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in manning the paint for his team.
Veteran Rey Nambatac also had a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds and so did Jeremiah Taladua, a transferee from Lyceum of the Philippines University, who finished with 13 points and 11 boards.
“We are happy with the win and that our losing streak had ended. The team is still very young and I hope they can continue to improve,” said Jeff Napa, Letran coach, after the win.
The Knights opponents today, the Blazers (1-3), meanwhile, lost their third straight game in NCAA Season 93 also last Tuesday, beaten black and blue by the league-leading Lyceum Pirates, 98-55.
Taft-based CSB was dominated by Lyceum from the second quarter onwards and simply did not have any answer to the Pirates’ suffocating defense and crisp outside shooting as it slumped to another defeat.
Unique Naboa was the lone Blazers player who reached double digits in scoring in said game with 14 markers.
NOT TAKING CSB FOR GRANTED
But despite the seeming upper hand they have heading into their home game, the Knights said they are not taking the visiting side lightly.
“You cannot take Benilde lightly despite the fact that it is at the bottom of the standings. I have so much respect for teams like that because they always come out to play with so much pride. We will do our best against them since we are playing in our home gym,” said Mr. Napa of today’s game.
“We want to give back to our school and to our audience who will watch us there and hopefully we can get the win,” he added.
Interestingly, the first two NCAA on Tour games held this year saw the visiting teams winning, a number that is not lost to Mr. Napa and something he said they hope to overturn in today’s game.
“We know that the home teams so far have lost two times already this year in the Tour but we are looking at it as added motivation. We have to prove that the home team is not jinxed by preparing and working hard,” the Letran coach said.
The NCAA on Tour is one of the notable changes for the league this season. It has the NCAA holding games in the premises of member schools. The NCAA said the reason behind it is to bring the league closer to its various stakeholders, particularly the students, and to further enhance interest in the league among them. In holding the games on the road, the NCAA said it has made sure that the venues are at par with tournament standards and security is beefed up to guard the safety of the participants and spectators.