Josan Nimes (center) struggled against the Lyceum defense. He was held to just 10 points. KC Cruz
(Updated 9:54pm) The Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates came up with timely defensive stops in the endgame to eke out a 78-74 win against a highly-favored Mapua Institute of Technology Cardinals squad, Thursday in the 88th NCAA seniors division basketball tournament, at FilOil Flying V Arena. "We played hard through defense. That’s what I’m telling my players to keep up your ‘D’ particularly in a close game like this," said LPU Pirates head coach Bonnie Tan. "It’s winning time and the players took over." Tan said Lyceum’s win was dedicated to Neth Mendoza, the mother of rookie Nelson Mendoza who died last weekend due to cancer. The Pirates began the season with three straight losses. Shane Ko, who tied the ball game at 71-all at the 2:29 mark of the fourth quarter, led the Pirates with 23 points and six rebounds, while Floricel Guevarra added 14 points and five rebounds for the Pirates. Chris Cayabyab then broke the game’s 13th and final deadlock with a jumper to arm Lyceum with a 73-71 edge.
MIT's Jonathan Banal (left) glides in for a lay-up, beating Lyceum's Shane Ko. KC Cruz
Andrew Estrella’s split at the foul line cut down the Cardinals’ deficit to one, but Vence Laude sank both free throws for a 75-72 Pirates lead. After two free throws from Mike Parala, the Pirates were hanging on to 75-74 lead until Daniel Garcia blocked Josan Nimes’ lay-up attempt. Cayabyab calmly sank both free throws off a Nimes foul for a 77-74 Pirates advantage with 17.5 seconds left. Mapua tried to send the game into overtime but Kenneth Ighalo’s three-point attempt was swatted away by Cayabyab, who sealed the win by scoring a free throw from an Estrella foul in the last 5.7 seconds. The loss ended the Cardinals’ two-game winning streak. Parala established a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinals who slipped to 2-2. Jumel Chien had 11 points, while Nimes got only 10 points, his season-low for the Cardinals.
- AMD, GMA News The scores:
LPU 78 - Ko 23, Guevarra 14, Cayabyab 12, Zamora 7, Azores 6, Laude 5, Francisco 5, Edding 3, Ambohot 3, Garcia 0, Martinez 0, Mallari 0.
MIT 74 - Parala 27, Chien 11, Nimes 10, Ighalo 9, Estrella 7, Banal 4, Stevens 4, Abad 2, Cantos 0.
Quarter scoring: 17-16, 34-34, 56-56, 78-74
Inboundpass has been covering collegiate basketball for six years. For more NCAA stories and information, check out inboundpass.com and follow Inboundpass on Twitter at @inboundpass 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
