Renz Villegas presided over Lyceum of the Philippines University’s 93-85 win over San Sebastian College-Recoletos as they arrested a three-game slide in the NCAA Season 100 on Tuesday.
The veteran guard dropped a career-high 25 points together with three assists, two steals, and one rebounds to spoil a late surge from the Stags, helping the Pirates improve to 7-8 and tie with Letran at fifth spot.
The Stags, meanwhile, dropped to 4-11 as they are now on the brink of elimination.
"The three losses, like I said sa mga players namin, ay past na pero we have to learn from it," LPU head coach Gilbert Malabanan said.
"The good thing is nakuha namin itong panalo and sabi ko nga, it's good to be back. Kailangan na kailangan namin itong panalo papunta sa mga susunod na games namin."
The Pirates unleashed a telling third quarter, turning a 40-33 halftime lead to a 71-50 cushion with John Barba igniting the rally alongside timely baskets from Simon Penafiel, John Panelo, and Villegas.
LPU, which was reeling from three consecutive losses to Arellano, Perpetual, and Mapua, dropped 31 points in the penultimate period behind the 11-point outing from Barba, whose back-to-back three-point plays saw them soaring to a 57-43 lead.
Villegas then took over in the fourth, burying a three-pointer that would bring the Pirates to their biggest lead at 74-50.
However, the Stags retaliated, turning to veteran guard Paeng Are and TJ Felebrico to trim the deficit to eight with stil 4:49 to go in the payoff period, 74-66.
Villegas, though, took the fight out of San Sebastian by completing a three-point play of his own before Barba sealed it by scoring seven of the last points of LPU.
With the win, LPU revived its dimming Final Four chances and is now in a must-win situation for the remainder of its elimination round assignments.
Scores:
LPU 93 – Villegas 25, Barba 20, Peñafiel 10, Montaño 9, Guadaña 8, Panelo 6, Cunanan 4, Versoza 4, Daileg 3, Aviles 2, Moralejo 2, Caduyac 0.
San Sebastian 85 – Felebrico 18, Aguilar 14, Are 12, Escobido 12, Velasco 6, R. Gabat 5, L. Gabat 4, Pascual 4, Barroga 3, Suico 3, Lintol 2, Cruz 2, Maliwat 0, Ramilo 0, Ricio 0.
Quarters: 16-17, 40-33, 71-50, 93-85.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
