Knights ward off Generals’ late charge

MANILA, Philippines — Letran edged Emilio Aguinaldo, 79-77, and then watched Far Eastern University stun erstwhile solo leader Lyceum of the Philippines University, 86-78, yesterday to regain the top spot in Group B in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Allen Mina paced the Knights with 17 points while Larry Muyang contributed 10 as the Knights warded off a late charge by the Generals to claim their fourth victory in five outings that catapulted them back to the No. 1 spot in their bracket.

The Pirates, for their part, paid dearly for a poor start as their late fightback fell short in the end that sent them crashing down to second with a 3-1 (win-loss) record.

For the Tams, they bounced back from two straight defeats for their first win.

While FEU coach Olsen Racela lauded his team for the win, he still rued their lack of conditioning.

“Our conditioning is still not good that’s why I kept rotating people fast. Good thing everyone stepped up and played quality minutes,” said Racela.

FEU also found a way to solve the riddle of LPU’s unrelenting pressing defense while knocking down a season-high 17 triples.

Rey Bienes paced the Tams with 14 while Wendell Comboy, Alex Stockton and Xyrus Torres each added 13.

The Knights were comfortably cruising to a 52-35 lead midway in the third canto before the Generals slowly but surely mounted a comeback that saw the latter trimming the gap to within a hairline, 72-73, with a little less than two minutes to go.

But rookie guard Kurt Reyson came through with two free throws and a basket that gave the Muralla-based dribblers enough cushion to preserve the win.

The Generals slipped to a 1-2 mark.