It was just another day at the office for Andy Gemao as the youngster steered the ship anew for Colegio de San Juan de Letran, this time against Lyceum of the Philippines University, 87-75, in the NCAA Season 98 juniors basketball tournament on Wednesday.
The 16-year-old court general exploded for a game-high 35 points alongside five rebounds, and four steals as the Squires improved to 6-1 to forge a tie at the top with Mapua University.
Lyceum, on the other hand, cruised to its second consecutive loss to go 3-4.
Letran led by as many as 27 points at the end of the penultimate period, 72-45, thanks to Gemao who already had 26 points at that point. But the Junior Pirates, who finished as runner-up in the previous edition, leaned on Nat Fuentes in their attempt to stage a comeback.
Fuentes completed a three-point play to help trim their deficit to just 12, 78-66, with 3:17 to go in the game. Prior to that, Fuentes also led their third quarter scoring, pouring in 10 of his overall output in the frame.
But Letran's depth was just too much for the Pirates with Jonathan Manalili and Daniel Padilla providing Gemao the needed help as they led again by 17, 85-68. Time just ran out for Lyceum as Letran completed the victory.
It also didn't help Lyceum's cause when its top scorer and team captain Matthew Rubico went down with an injury with 27.9 left in the third quarter.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
