MANILA, Philippines -- Defending champion Colegio de San Juan de Letran had to dig deep for a 101-97 overtime victory over Jose Rizal University (JRU) in their first game of the NCAA Season 98 men's basketball tournament.

The Knights got a career game from Kurt Reyson and benefited from a couple of late-game blunders by the Heavy Bombers to go 1-0 in the season, Wednesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.

Letran has now won 14 consecutive games since Game 3 of the NCAA Season 95 finals in 2019. They went 12-0 in Season 97 en route to a second straight championship.

Reyson torched JRU for 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while King Caralipio had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Veteran point guard Fran Yu had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals in the win.

The Heavy Bombers were on the verge of a massive upset after Jason Celis' split at the line put them up by three points, 89-86, with just 16.7 seconds left in regulation. They got a stop in their next possession, as triples by Brent Paraiso and Kobe Monje were off mark.

But with a chance to seal the game, JRU instead committed a turnover, leading to Reyson drilling a cold-blooded three-pointer in transition to tie the game with just 5.4 ticks left.

In overtime, the Knights surged ahead, 96-90, sparked by another three-pointer from Reyson. But John Amores kept JRU in the game, scoring six straight points including the layup that tied the game at 96 with 1:26 to play. A split at the line by rookie William Sy gave the Heavy Bombers a slim 97-96 lead with just 46.5 seconds to go.

The Knights executed better down the stretch, however. Caralipio found a cutting Monje for the go-ahead layup, 98-97, and on the other end, JRU's Celis heaved an awkward jumper that was well off. Fran Yu kept the door open for the Bombers when he made just one of two free throws for a 99-97 count. Unfortunately for JRU, they would not be able to respond as Marwin Dionisio's inbound pass was mishandled by Ryan Arenal.

Yu iced the game from the free throw line with 10.9 seconds left, and the Heavy Bombers' efforts in the final seconds were off target.

Amores had 19 points in a losing effort. Moments after the buzzer, he and Letran's Monje had to be separated after exchanging words. Agen Miranda put up 18 points, six assists, and five boards for JRU, and Ry dela Rosa had 14 points.

The scores:

LETRAN 101 -- Reyson 31, Caralipio 14, Paraiso 13, Yu 12, Sangalang 9, Monje 9, Santos 6, Olivario 3, Go 2, Miclat 2, Ariar 0, Guarino 0.

JRU 97 -- Amores 19, Miranda 18, Celis 14, Dela Rosa 14, Guiab 10, Dionisio 7, Arenal 7, Medina 5, Sy 3, Delos Santos 0, Abaoag 0.

Quarters: 19-27, 49-41, 74-71, 89-89, 101-97.

Related video:

Watch more News on iWantTFC