Sean Salvador starred as Mapua University weathered a San Beda University comeback en route to a narrow 71-69 victory in the NCAA Season 100 juniors basketball tournament on Tuesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
Salvador posted a team-high 24 points on impressive 4-of-8 shooting from downtown while also grabbing three assists, two rebounds, one steal, and one block to help the Red Robins improve to an even 2-2 card.
The erstwhile undefeated Red Cubs, meanwhile, fell to a 3-1 card as all 10 teams have now lost at least one game.
"Sa kanila 'yun, 'yung credit sa kanila (players). Ako ang ginawa ko lang is 'yung mga kailangan namin na i-improve, doon lang ako nag-focus pero lahat ay credit sa players," newly-minted Mapua head coach JR Dela Cruz said.
"Sabi ko nga, 'yung team namin has a potential to be number one so hindi kami dapat maging relaxed. Thankful ako na nakuha namin 'yung panalo kasi number one ang San Beda."
[That's for them, the credit belongs to them. All I did is to focus on the things we needed to improve but all credit is to the players... Like I said, our team has potential to be number one so we should be relaxed. Thankful that we got the win because San Beda is number one.]
A Salvador triple sent Mapua to a 54-37 lead early in the third, but the surging San Beda, which was coming off a big win against last year's runner-up Perpetual, staged a fightback with MJ Vailoces trimming their deficit down to five in the fourth, 65-50.
Vailoces then sank a pair of three-pointers to bring San Beda within three with 4:22 left before Juris San Juan split his charities to make it a two-point ballgame at 67-69. Carl Rodriguez' layup with 1:07 left salvaged Mapua even if Vailoces converted a basket of his own in the final 55 seconds.
Dwyne Miranda provided the help for Mapua with his 13 points, three rebounds, four assists, and one steal while Allan Laurenaria chipped in seven markers, 10 boards, two steals, two blocks, and one dime.
The loss, meanwhile, saw Vailoces' 25-point outburst go down the drain as he also collected 11 rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
