The LPU Pirates couldn’t have had a better confidence-building second win than a 78-66 upset of Group B leaders San Beda, thanks to graduating shooter Neil Joshua Moralejo’s magical touch in the fourth quarter. 

The Bulacan native went ballistics in the final frame, scoring 13 total points on 5-for-6 field goal shooting highlighted by two Jimmy Alapag-range triples that gave the Pirates timely cushion to the end.

Moralejo’s 13-point explosion almost matched San Beda’s scoring output as a team (15), as the graduating point guard nabbed a new career-high 24 points alongside 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.

Not only did Moralejo score in bunches, he also shot with maximum efficiency– registering a 72.7% (8/11 FG) clip from the field while hitting five out of his seven three-point attempts and going perfect (3/3) from the free throw line. 

Gyle Montano and team captain John Barba also had sizable doleouts for the momentum-seeking Pirates, adding 15 and 10 points, respectively, with the latter also coming down with 7 rebounds and 3 assists in an all-around showing, 

Omar Gordon also sparked offense despite playing limited minutes, extracting 6 points from an 8-minute shift. 

San Beda’s super scorer Janti Miller was still offensively dominant in spite of the loss, totalling a team-high 22 points on 8-for-14 field goal shooting coupled with 6 rebounds and 2 dimes. 

Bismarck Lina added a near double-double of 12 points and 8 rebounds in a supportive role, but the Red Lions just could not find their mark as veterans Yukien Andrada (6 points, 25% FG), Bryan Sajonia (5 points, 33.3% FG), and Nygel Gonzales (4 points, 28.6%) misfired. 

LPU as a unit did a tremendous job connecting from long distance, going off for 14 total threes on an efficient 52.6% clip to dominate the three-point battle against San Beda’s 7-for-29 performance. 

LPU remains the last-placer in Group A but improved to a 2-7 record to tie San Sebastian, while San Beda stays steady at first in Group B with 6 wins and 3 losses.