Letran trips Arellano to secure twice-to-beat advantage in quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines — Colegio de San Juan de Letran secured the top spot in the Group B after overpowering Arellano University, 91-77, in the NCAA Season 102 men’s basketball tournament on Thursday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City. Letran raised its win-loss record to 8-3 and will get the top seed in Group B. Arellano dropped to a 5-6 card but remained in second place in Group B, ahead of Emilio Aguinaldo College (4-6), University of Perpetual Help System-Dalta (3-7), and San Sebastián College-Recoletos (0-11). Letran was led by Jimboy Estrada who finished with 25 points, four rebounds and three assists. The Knights also had five double-digit scorers as Justin Cargo and Chad Gammad netted 15 and 12 points, respectively. Kevin Santos, Aaron Buensalida and Denzil Sison-Walker scored 10 points apiece for Letran. “We really don’t think about the twice-to-beat advantage, we focus on being consistent in order to fully reach our goal,” head coach Allen Ricardo said after the game. On the other side of the court, Renzo Abiera led the scoring with 20 points while King Vinoya and Ernest Geronimo chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively. Arellano’s go-to scorer T-mc Ongotan was limited by Letran to just 11 points in the match after scoring two out of eight attempts...