Lyceum of the Philippines University once again displayed its endgame magic, surviving San Beda University with a 67-62 win to remain immaculate in NCAA Season 99 on Sunday.
Lyceum hiked its standing to 6-0 while San Beda, whose head coach Yuri Escueta got ejected before the halftime break, slid to 3-2.
The two teams flaunted their perimeter shooting in the fourth with San Beda gunner Jacob Cortez and Lyceum sniper John Barba trading triples for a 57-all deadlock.
Mclaude Guadaña then broke that with a three-pointer of his own, 60-57, before four straight freebies from Renz Villegas and Shawn Umali sent the Pirates to a 64-57 upper hand.
But Yukien Andrada instigated a personal 5-0 run capped by a corner triple to cut San Beda’s deficit to just two, 64-62, with exactly a minute left on the clock.
Cortez had the opportunity to tie things up but he went wide on his two free throws which eventually led to a Lyceum steal then a one-handed slam from Enoch Valdez, 66-62.
Things, however, got heated up when Umali was ejected from the game with only 3.3 ticks left after a verbal altercation with Damie Cuntapay.
Still, Lyceum held on to complete the victory, their sixth consecutive to start the season.
Guadaña tallied 12 points while Villegas chipped in 11 markers to lead LPU's balanced attach. Barba and Valdez chimed in with 10 points each while Umali flirted with a double-double with nine markers and 12 boards.
Cortez paced the Red Lions with a game-high 23 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, along with three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block, but he was the only Red Lion to reach double figures in the game.
The scores:
LPU 67 - Guadaña 12, Villegas 11, Barba 10, Valdez 10, Umali 9, Peñafiel 5, Bravo 3, Montaño 3, Omandac 2, Versoza 2, Cunanan 0, Moralejo 0, Aviles 0.
San Beda 62 - Cortez 23, Puno 8, Cuntapay 8, Andrada 7, Jopia 5, Payosing 3, Alfaro 3, Gonzales 2, Visser 2, Gallego 0, Tagle 0.
Quarters: 16-18, 38-37, 54-46, 67-62.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
