Timing was everything for the Letran Knights as they ended a three-year title drought yesterday in the 79th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's basketball tournament at the jam-packed Cuneta Astrodome.

Boyet Bautista and Aaron Aban picked the right moment for the Knights to dethrone back-to-back champion San Sebastian College, 64-59.

Three turnovers in the last 46 seconds spelled the difference for the Knights, who came away with their 15th title since 1938.

The Stags were last ahead, 58-56, when Bautista hit a clutch basket past Leo Najorda with 2:08 left to force the game's last deadlock in the first turnover.

Bautista then slammed in a putback off Jonathan Pinera's miss to send the Knights ahead. Taking advantage of Chris Baluyot's three-second violation in the shaded lane, the Knights got back possession. But Enrile missed a triple past team skipper Nicole Uy.

Bautista then sent the pro-Letran crowd breaking a prolonged silence with shout 'Ariba, Ariba'. This after Bautista followed up Enrile's miss. It came with 46 ticks to go, sent the Knights up by four, 62-58, and as he drove around a dumbfounded Stags slot man Clark Moore.

Poor free throw shooting in the remaining time kept the Stags from catching up.

Enrile showed the way for the Knights with 20 points, eight rebounds, two assists and one steal while Bautista had 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. "It feels good. I want to thank God for this. Kami ni God ang nagtrabaho nito. Kay Lord ito," said Alas.

Uy topscored for the Stags with 18 points and four rebounds. The 6'7 Moore got limited to just four with Jonathan Pinera and Frederick Rodriguez taking turns in guarding him. But he had 14 rebounds, an assist and two blocks.

The game was stopped with 6:06 to go in the third canto after the Letran crowd threw debris on the hardcourt floor in protest of a foul by Dale Santos following uy's miss. They were silenced after NCAA management committee announced that the match will be suspended if such incident happens again.

The Stags were charging back from 40-48 down and came back to within two, 46-48, off Uy's triple.

The Knights had trouble sustaining their lead after Pinera left the court when he got after colliding with Najorda.

"Iyung depensa nila ang nagpanalo. We lost to a better team. It was a good game," said Stags coach Turo Valenzona.