TITING Manalili was a picture of total control as he stared his defender down with under two minutes remaining in the game, casually attacking left before slinging a beautiful behind-the-back pass to a cutting Aaron Buensalida who scored an uncontested lay-up to give Letran a ten point lead.
Save for another slow quarter, such was the story of the game.
The Knights were in total control in taking a 77-69 win over the Arellano Chiefs to book the final semifinals spot in the NCAA Season 101 on Friday at the Playtime Filoil Center in San Juan.
With the win, the Knights returned to the final four for the first time in three years, or for the first time since completing a three-peat. They take on the Perpetual Altas in a best-of-three series starting Tuesday.
Still, Knights coach Allen Ricardo rued the slow first quarter where they trailed the Chiefs 13-4 before totally taking control of the game for good.
"We struggled during the first quarter, kita niyo naman. It was the same mistakes, we got outrebounded, ang laki ng binigay namin na second chance points kaya hindi kami maka-bwelo," he said.
Knights' Crusade
The moment the Knights recovered their footing, it was Letran as Jimboy Estrada, Kevin Santos and Jun Roque started finding their mark in the middle periods, allowing the Knights to open a 14 point lead, 50-36 early in the third.
While the Chiefs gave everything they had in keeping their season alive, the Knights were simply just too good, just too stacked and just too composed in the end game.
Behind Anjord Cabotaje's hot hands, the Chiefs got to within striking range, even trimming the Letran lead to two, 64-62.
The Knights, though, responded with a shotclock-beating three pointer from Jimboy Estrada and two free throws from Manalili to keep the Chiefs at bay, 69-62.
Still, Arellano kept fighting, getting to within four at 71-67 with four minutes remaining, but the Knights once again had answers with Estrada scoring on a jumper on the next possession, before Manalili systematically broke down Arellano's defense on back-to-back plays, both times finding Aaron Buensalida to land the killing blows.
"Despite that [slow start], I give credit to the coaches and mga players na na-adjust namin ang kailangan namin ma-adjust," Ricardo said.
"We adjusted in terms of how we played defense. We had to recognize yung key players nila, yung scorers nila at limitahan namin, especially si Ongotan, si Valencia."
Estrada led the way for the Knights with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists while Santos added 15 points, eight boards and three blocks.
Roque continued his road to recovery for the Knights, playing the most minutes he's played since returning at nearly 31 minutes to finish with 11 points and two steals, while Buensalida added 10 points, eight rebounds, two steals and block.
Manalili struggled heavily on offense, as he missed all of his five shots but he made up for it with his playmaking and defense as he dished out 12 assists and had three steals.
T-Mc Ongotan saw his excellent season come at an end, and he came down swinging after finishing with 23 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists. Cabotaje added 18 points, spiked by four triples.
The scores:
LETRAN 77 – Estrada 19, Santos 15, Roque 11, Buensalida 10, Omega 8, Montecillo 6, Cuajao 5, Manalili 3, Gammad 0
ARELLANO 69 – Ongotan 23, Cabotaje 18, Libang 9, Geronimo 6, Vinoya 5, Valencia 4, Demetria 4, Camay 0, Abiera 0, Hernal 0, Borromeo 0, Acop 0
Quarters: 17-20, 39-31, 62-54, 77-69
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