NCAA Season 101: Cardinals soar past Pirates to regain win form
At A Glance
- Reigning champion Mapua bucked a lethargic start and hammered out a 78-73 triumph over Lyceum to return to the winning column of the NCAA Season 101 men's basketball tournament at the FilOil EcoOil Arena Friday, Nov. 7.
(NCAA Images)
Reigning champion Mapua bucked a lethargic start and hammered out a 78-73 triumph over Lyceum to return to the winning column of the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament at the FilOil EcoOil Arena Friday, Nov. 7.
Down by two, 67-69, off Renz Villegas’ jumper for the Pirates, JC Recto and Yam Concepcion took charge with a triple and layup, respectively, to give the Cardinals ample cushion and preserve their fifth win.
Mapua hiked its record to 5-5 at second spot in Group A, while Lyceum dropped to 2-8 in the same bracket.
"Parang hindi pa rin namin na i-improve 'yung first half namin kasi lagi kami slow start. Matatambakan kami," said Recto.
"So 'yun, sinabi lang ng coaches sa second half kanina na kailangan namin tumrabaho sa depensa kasi ayan 'yung strength namin. So 'pag hindi kami dumepensa tatambakan talaga kami ng ibang teams,” he added.
Concepcion topped Mapua’s scoring column with 15 points, while Recto listed a double-double performance of 14 and 12 rebounds. Cyrus Cuenco and Cyrus Nitura combined for 22 points.
Jonathan Daileg topscored for the Pirates with 18 points in the defeat while Renz Villegas also finished with 16 markers but to no avail.