MARK CRUZ is making the most out of his last year as a Letran Knight.
Diminutive at 5-foot-5, Cruz buried five three-point shots all in the fourth quarter to power Letran past a rough-playing Lyceum side, 81-57, and into a share of the lead anew in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 91 seniors basketball tournament on Friday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
Cruz had a 17-point explosion in the final canto and wound up with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes off the bench, numbers that augur well for his impending campaign as a rookie for Purefoods Star Hotshots, which drafted the Knight in the third round last month.
The victory, the 10th in 12 games, tied Letran anew with five-time defending champion San Beda atop the standings.
In Friday’s other seniors game, College of Saint Benilde snapped a five-game skid by beating hapless Emilio Aguinaldo College, 81-57, to stay in the Final Four hunt with a 3-9 record. The Generals dropped to 2-10.
The Knights were in command in the first three quarters but lost steam early in the fourth, when the Pirates made a big run and wrest a 50-49 lead.
And then there was Cruz, who waxed hot and unleashed 17 points in the final period to zap the fight out of the Pirates.
A near scuffle happened in the third quarter when Lyceum’s Cameroonian big man Victor Nguidjol landed an accidental elbow and bloodied the nose of Letran’s Christian Balagasay. A commotion also occurred between Nguidjol and Rey Nambatac after the final buzzer sounded with the latter making a fighting stance.