Lyceum fended off the gritty Emilio Aguinaldo College side and hacked out a 79-73 win in the second round of the NCAA Season 98 men's basketball tournament Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
The Pirates bounced back at the expense of the Generals from their tough 62-59 loss at the hands of the Mapua Cardinals last Oct. 16.
But Lyceum, behind the efforts of Mclaude Guadana, Enoch Valdez, and Vince Cunanan, made sure to put the nail in the coffin this time around even as EAC slowly clawed its way back in the payoff period.
Guadana led the Pirates, who improved to an 8-3 record, with 19 points built on three triples while Valdez and Cunanan chipped in 10 points apiece with the former grabbing six rebounds.
It all boiled down to the last minute when EAC tried to cut its deficit one possession at a time courtesy of Art Cosa.
After trailing by eight points only from a huge 19-point gap, the Generals showed their pesky defense as Adrian Balowa forced Renzo Navarro to turn the ball over with 42.3 seconds left.
JP Maguliano then cleaned up the mess for EAC after Nat Cosejo and Ralph Bajon missed their attempts in the earlier play to further push with a six-point deficit, 77-71, with 29.5 ticks to go.
But Shawn Umali, who caught the ball from Navarro after being double-teamed by Cosejo and Balowa, split his free throw to ice the game with 20.6 remaining.
Cosejo, who had yet another monster performance of 26 points on a 12-of-19 shooting to go with six rebounds, four rebounds, and two steals, had a chance to make it a two-ball possession but he missed a crucial three-pointer which virtually secured the win for the Pirates.
Omar Larupay split another free throw for Lyceum but Cosa wasn't done trying on behalf of EAC, scoring the last basket of the game off his own miss from beyond the arc.
Balowa added 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists while Maguliano's double-double effort of 12 points and 15 rebounds went into naught as the Generals slipped to a 1-10 slate.
The Scores:
LPU 79 -- Guadana 19, Valdez 10, Cunanan 10, Umali 7, Vinoya 7, Villegas 6, Bravo 6, Larupay 5, Navarro 4, Penafiel 3, Montano 2.
EAC 73 -- Cosejo 26, Balowa 12, Maguliano 12, Cosa 7, Bajon 5, Luciano 4, Liwag 4, Tolentino 3, Ad. Doria 0, Dominguez 0, Angeles 0, Quinal 0.
Quarters: 29-20, 50-38, 65-53, 79-73