Lyceum tops CSB; SBC rips Mapua
Games Tuesday (The Arena, San Juan City) 12 noon. — Arellano vs Mapua (Jrs) 2 p.m. — Arellano vs Mapua (Srs) 4 p.m. — Perpetual Help vs San Sebastian (Srs) 6 p.m. — Perpetual Help vs San Sebastian (Jrs)
Lyceum raced to its 11th straight victory yesterday as the Pirates downed College of St. Benilde, 83-69, in the NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Fluid offensively and tenacious defensively, the Pirates turned to star guard CJ Perez and six other players who wound up in with at least seven points apiece in disposing of the Blazers.
Perez was a rebound shy of a double-double as he banged in a teamhigh 14 points on top of three assists and two steals.
Lyceum forced St. Benilde to turn the ball over 34 times which the Pirates translated to 39 points, most of them via easy layups in transition.
The Pirates coaching staff, however, was “far from being satisfied,” according to Lyceum assistant Jeff Perlas who as- sumed the post-game interview chores in behalf of head coach Topex Robinson.
Robinson had to excuse himself so he can fulfill his assistant coaching duties with Alaska in the PBA at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We have to be more conservative in trapping them. Some of the teams are fast catching up. We need to find other ways to adjust our defensive schemes,” he added.
Earlier, defending champion San Beda College (SBC), even without head coach Boyet Fernandez and top gunner Robert Bolick, still proved too hot to handle for slumping Mapua 88-70.
Shooter AC Soberano came off the bench and drilled in a team-high 17 points, spiked by three triples, while doit-all big man Javee Mocon pumped in another double-double of 11 markers and 10 rebounds as the Red Lions re-asserted their mastery over the Cardinals behind a dominant second half performance.
More importantly, San Beda racked up its ninth straight win, tightened its hold of second spot with a 10-1 mark and further widened the gap from its closest pursuers for a Top 2 finish.
Seven other players added at least five markers in a balanced offensive attack that enabled San Beda to overcome the absence of Fernandez, 6-foot-1 Bolick and key backup Clint Doliguez, who all served their onegame suspensions for their erring acts in the course of their 72-58 victory over St. Benilde three days ago.
In the third match, host San Sebastian, saving its best for last, completed a season sweep of struggling Emilio Aguinaldo College 81-69.
Veteran Michael Calisaan fired away nine of his game-high 19 points in the final frame where the Golden Stags outscored the Generals 28-17, leading to their fifth win against as many losses and earning a tie at fourth spot with the Letran Knights.
The Generals, led by Francis Munsayac’s 14 markers, slipped to a 4-6 slate.
—JEROME LAGUNZAD