Lyceum leaned on a strong effort of Jebb Bulawan when it trounced Emilio Aguinaldo College, 91-75, to breathe life to its dying final four campaign in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City on Friday.
Bulawan, a 21-year-old native of Sorsogon, dished out a career-high 20 points after shooting seven of 11 from the field and six of seven from the foul line and spiked his effort with seven rebounds as the Pirates sealed their sixth win against eight losses.
Lyceum will need to sweep their remaining four games starting with four-peat champion San Beda on Wednesday for it to have a chance of catching the last bus to the final four.
But Lyceum coach Bonnie Tan was thinking more of matching, if not surpassing, its eight-win performance last season.
"We're not giving up but our main concern now is to at least duplicate our eight wins last year and see what happens from there," said Tan.
The victory also halted Lyceum's four-game slide, the reason he didn't celebrate his 42nd birthday last Tuesday that much.
"It's hard to celebrate when you're losing. It's nice to finally get a win," said Tan.
The Generals fell to 3-11 (win-loss).
In the second game, Dioncee Holts scored 22 points as Arellano University returned to its winning ways with a 75-69 victory over Jose Rizal University.
The Chiefs took solo second with a 10-4 record, while the Heavy Bombers dropped to 9-5. — Photos by Jeff Venancio
The scores:
First game
Lyceum 91- Bulawan 20, Zamora 16, Gabayni 16, Lesmoras 14, Taladua 10, Mbbida 9, Baltazar 5, Malabanan 1, Soliman 0, Elmejrab 0, Maconocido 0
EAC 75- Tayongtong 24, Onwubere 16, Arquero 14, Jamon 11, General 7, Serrano 3, Santos 0, Mejos 0, Saludo 0
Quarters: 22-19; 38-33; 65-59; 91-75
Second game
Arellano U 75- Holts 22, Caperal 10, Hernandez 7, Enriquez 7, Jalalon 6, Pinto 6, Ortega 5, Bangga 4, Gumaru 2, Nicholls 2, Ciriacruz 2, Agovida 2
Jose Rizal 69- Paniamogan 20, Asuncion 14, Teodoro 13, Abdul Wahab 7, Sanchez 7, Balagtas 4, Mabulac 4, Lasquety 0, Salaveria 0, Miunez 0, Grospe 0, Benavides 0
Quarters: 20-16; 39-35; 56-51; 75-69
