Mapua outplayed Lyceum in the second half as it scored a 76-65 victory on Friday to match its win total last year in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.
Carlos Isit and Leo Gabo paced their team with 17 points each while Joseph Emmanuel Eriobu, Jr. and Exeqiel Biteng chipped in 12 and 11, respectively, to give the Cardinals a third win against 10 starts.
Mapua, which is already out of the Final Four race, will thus have a chance to improve its three-win total a season ago if it could win at least one of their last five games.
"From the start, the least we hoped for is for us to improve on our record last year and we're close to achieving that," said Mapua coach Atoy Co.
After a tightly-fought first half, the Cardinals made their move in the third quarter to turn a 29-all halftime tie to a 54-49 lead at the end of the period. And then Isit, Biteng, Eriobu, Isit and Gabo conspired in the fourth to finally break loose.
The Pirates, who were led by Cameroonian Guy Mbida's 13 points and Rhoel Maconocido, Jr.'s 12, fell to their eighth loss against five wins, pushing them on the brink of Final Four elimination.
In the second game, Jose Rizal University moved up to solo third place with an 80-76 win over Perpetual Help.
Philip Paniamogan and Michael Mabulac scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, for the Heavy Bombers, who improved to 9-4.
Perpetual dropped to 8-5 in a tie with College of St. Benilde. — Photos by KC Cruz
The Scores:
MIT (76) – Isit 17, Gabo 17, Eriobu 12, Biteng 11, Cantos 8, Estrella 7, Saitanan 4, Villasenor 0.
LPU (65) – Mbida 13, Maconocido 12, Gabayni 9, Zamora 9, Soliman 8, Bulawan 6, Taladua 5, Malabanan 2, Lesmoras 1, Elmejrab 0, Pamulaklakin 0.
Quarters: 15-15, 29-29, 54-49, 76-65
Second Game
JOSE RIZAL 80 - Paniamogan 22, Mabulac 21, Ascuncion 16, Sanchez 7, Lasquety 4, Balagtas 4, Abdulwahab 3, Teodoro 2, Grospe 1, Benavides 0
PERPETUAL 76 - Thompson 26, Baloria 21, Alano 15, Arboleda 7, Dagangon 7, Oliveria 0, Dizon 0, Ylagan 0, Tamayo 0,, Bantayan 0, Gallardo 0, Jolangcob 0
Quarters: 19-16; 39-34; 51-50; 63-63 (OT); 80-76
