Matute's long-range bombs lift JRU to victory

Nate Matute had another explosive performance on Wednesday to power an erratic Jose Rizal University (JRU) side to a 66-55 win over Perpetual Help in the 86th NCAA men's basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

JRU, which played inconsistently minus point guard JR Bulangis and Cameroonian John Njei, nailed its fourth straight win to hike its record to 8-2 to trail defending champion San Sebastian by half-a-game for second place. Bulangis is nursing a fever while Njei showed up in complete uniform but was sit out the rest of the game by Meneses because of disciplinary action. "Disciplinary action," said JRU coach Vergel Meneses, who refused to tell the full details of Njei's sanction. Matute, fresh from a 22-point effort in the Heavy Bombers' 76-70 win over the Letran Knights last week, finished with 15 points behind a 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. But the win did not sit well for JRU coach Vergel Meneses after the Bombers played lethargically that led to 30 turnovers in the game. "We had many lapses on defense and instead of we forcing opponents to commit turnovers, it was the other way around," said Meneses, who will play in the NBA Asia Challenge on Friday at the Big Dome. JRU trailed 28-27 at halftime and held slim leads all throughout the third period as the Las Piñas-based squad made it a see-saw contest in spite of the absence of top scorer Arnold Danganan due to a one-game suspension. Until Matute showered the venue with a series of long-range bombs on a rainy afternoon firing three triples pushing JRU's lead to 51-43 with a minute gone in the fourth period. "He and (Raycon) Kabigting are the legit shooters on this team," said Meneses. "I told him that if he doesn't shoot maybe I'll be the one who will make those shots. But as long as he won't make force shots and has that confidence, he'll be OK." The Altas, however, made one last push as backup guard Joel Jolangcob, receiving a baseball from veteran center Raffy Ynion, scored a three-point play to cut the lead to 54-52 with 4:49 to go. But JRU picked up its game down the stretch, holding Perpetual to just three points behind its defense and a number of free throws, mostly from guard Alex Almario to pull away. Raycon Kabigting had 12 points, three rebounds and three assists while Almario, who had 10 points, five rebounds and six assists. Lanky big men John Montemayor combined for 17 points and 12 rebounds while Cameroonian Joe Etame tallied seven points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Former Philippine Christian University cagers George Allen and Jet Vidal led the Altas' losing cause with 14 points each. Perpetual, which inserted just nine men in lieu of Danganan's ban, fell to a dismal 0-9 slate. The Boris Aldeguer-coached Altas suffered their 18th straight loss dating back to the second round of last season. – JVP, GMANews.TV