By Kevin Estrada
Mapúa returned to the Finals of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after beating the Season 100 hosts Lyceum, 89-79, in their Final Four game on Sunday at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Armed with a twice-to-beat incentive, the top-seeded Cardinals survived the rally put on by the fourth-seeded Pirates.
With the win, Mapúa inched closer to ending its 33-year wait for an NCAA title. They advanced to the championship round for the second straight year, their third overall in the last four campaigns.
Guard Clint Escamis pulled up a new career-high by scoring 33 points on a 10/19 (53%) field-goal shooting, 18 of which came from a high-octane first quarter for the league’s reigning MVP.
Chris Hubilla and JC Recto led the Cardinals’ frontcourt, contributing 17 and 10 points, respectively. Recto’s three-point play later provided MU with the game’s biggest lead at 15 points (45-30) midway through the second period.
However, LPU clawed back after the halftime break, with forward JM Bravo hitting 10 of his 20 in the third canto as the Pirates took the lead from Mapúa heading into the payoff period, hoping to extend their series to a decider on Wednesday.
But Mapúa engineered a 16-2 blast behind Hubilla, Escamis and Yam Concepcion, as it flipped a 63-67 deficit into an irreversible 79-69 lead with less than five minutes remaining. Although the Pirates tried to get another rally with a six-point swing to pull within four points (75-79), bad free throw shooting doomed LPU as they could only hit 1/7 from the stripe in the final 2:44 of the game.
The scores:
MAPÚA 89 – Escamis 33, Hubilla 17, Recto 10, Mangubat 7, Concepcion 7, Cuenco 6, Igliane 4, Bancale 4, Jabonete 1, Ryan 0, Garcia 0
LYCEUM 79 – Bravo 20, Barba 14, Vilegas 12, Guadaña 12, Daileg 6, Versoza 6, Moralejo 3, Cunanan 2, Montaño 2, Peñafiel 2, Aviles 0
Quarter scores: 29-21, 55-46, 63-65, 89-79
Images courtesy of NCAA Media Bureau
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