Thirty-three years was all worth it.

More than three dacades and some finals heartbreaks later, the Mapúa Cardinals would only need two outings-- both won decisively- to finally hoist up the NCAA trophy that has been elusive to them since 1991.

They did so with a convincing 94-82 win over the powerhouse Benilde team of Coach Charles Tiu on Saturday at the storied Araneta Coliseum.

The Cardinals played their A game virtually from start to finish. After being down 0-7 early in the first quarter, Clint Escamis–adjudged Finals MVP– and company took control of the game's mood and tempo. 

Escamis drained one jumper after another to lead Mapúa to a 24-23 advantage in the first, sparking what would be a game-defining momentum shift.

Pedal to the metal they pushed as they tightly held on to their lead on the back of Player of the Game Cyrus Cuenco who top-scored for Mapúa with 19 on 3/7 shooting from three.

The newcomer duo of Rookie and Freshman of the Year Chris Hubilla and Cebuano marksman Lawrence Mangubat also contributed generously with 15 and 17, respectively.

Hubilla, who was earlier called for two major awards, made sure to make the most out of an already impressive rookie year with the Cardinals. The Bulan, Sorsogon native had eight rebounds and two steals on top of his double-digit production.

Mangubat, meanwhile, manufactured all of his points either from the freethrow line, or the three-point line. The rookie hotshot from Cebu dropped four threes out of seven tries, and was almost pefect from the charity stripe (5/6).

Escamis, last season's ROTY-MVP, would conclude his Season 100 campaign with 18 points, four assists, and three steals en route to claiming the Finals MVP plum.

The Benilde Blazers, on the other side, just could not find the answer to the barrage of offense and suffocating defense Coach Randy Alcantara drew up for his boys.

Season 100 MVP Allen Liwag produced his usual output of 14 points and 10 rebounds, but it was Justine Sanchez who looked like a a bright spot in Coach Charles Tiu's gameplan after scattering 24 points, nine rebounds, five dimes, and three steals.