Lyceum of the Philippines University ended its preliminary round run on a winning note, adding to the frustrations of University of Perpetual Help System DALTA with a 73-66 victory on Sunday at the Filoil Centre.
The Junior Pirates closed out the group stage round with a 4-9 win-loss record, while sending the defending Junior ALTAs to their fourth consecutive loss to go 6-7.
Lemarcus Pelayo led LPU with 21 points together with three rebounds, one assist, and block while Jericho Abrantes shone with an all-around performance of 11 markers, seven boards, and six dimes. Ken Bo, Steven Creus, and Harvey Turno all chipped in nine points as they stunned the Perpetual.
Perpetual, which was coming off a string of losses to San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Mapua University, and Arellano University, continued to struggle as star shooter Don Rosales went just 5-of-15 from the field to finish with 15 points.
Kurt Velasquez and Ezekiel Zamoras churned out 12 and 10 markers each with the former grabbing six rebounds and five assists, and three steals.
Despite the loss, Perpetual will still clinch an outright quarterfinals berth after finishing third in Group A while LPU will take on San Sebastian in the play-in stage where the winner will book the last quarterfinals slot.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
