LETRAN seeks to extend its fairy-tale run as it clashes with struggling Lyceum on Tuesday in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) senior basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.
A few days after slaying last year’s runner-up Arellano University, the Knights shoot for their seventh straight victory in the 4 p.m. showdown with the Pirates that would match their 7-0 (win-loss) start two seasons ago.
“If we keep playing with urgency and desperation, there’s no reason we can’t keep the streak going,” Letran Coach Aldin Ayo said.
In the other seniors’ game, College of Saint Benilde and San Sebastian, currently tied at the bottom with Lyceum and Emilio Aguinaldo College with identical 1-5 records, collide at 2 p.m.
The Muralla-based dribblers have been drawing strength from their hustling, full-court pressure defense and their free-wheeling run-and-gun game anchored on the troika of Kevin Racal, Mark Cruz and Rey Nambatac.
Of the three, Racal, slowly getting back into full strength after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament last year, shone brightest in Letran’s most recent win with his season-best 24 points.
Ayo is all praises for his team captain.
“Because of our lack of height, I was forced to use K-Racs [Racal] as a four when he is usually at his best playing the three,” Ayo said. “But I hear no complaints from him, he just does what is asked of him.”
Under Ayo, Letran strung six straight wins highlighted by giant-sized triumphs over reigning “five-peat” champion San Beda (5-1) and title-contenders Perpetual Help (4-2) and Jose Rizal University (4-2).
While Letran is on its best start in two years, Lyceum is hoping to end its worst start since joining the league four years ago after dropping five of its first six games, including a 95-109 defeat to Mapua last Friday.
Although the Pirates lost their last game, they may have found consolation at the thought that they nearly came back from a massive 43-point first-half deficit before ending up falling short in the end.
“Hopefully, we could pick up something from that loss,” Lyceum mentor Topex Robinson said.