24 July 2018
By Maxine Louise Lagman
Manila, Philippines – The Lyceum of the Philippines University almost saw its winning end against the vicious Arellano University in the NCAA Season 94 senior’s basketball tournament.
But reigning MVP CJ Perez was not just about to give up on his team and blasted a new career-high 31 points to turn a 16-point deficit to an 82-65 win over the Arellano Chiefs on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
In the opening salvo, the Chiefs were off to hot start and led by as much as 16 points, 33-17, thanks to the combined efforts from veteran Michael Canete and Kraniel Villoria.
Arellano continued their momentum until the second, but the Pirates were slowly closing in with only a four-point deficit.
Perez took no time to rest coming into the second half and powered the Pirates with 22 of his 31 points.
Lyceum stood behind Perez and strengthened their defense to take away the Chief’s momentum and stopped them from scoring. Arellano were limited by Lyceum to only 24 points in the second half after scoring 41 in the first half.
Perez drove his team to their 22nd consecutive win in the elimination round from last season with a new career-high record of 31 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals.
Cameroonian Mike Nzeusseu added a double-double record of 15 points and 11 rebounds that helped Lyceum remain unbeaten in the team standing with a 4-0 record.
On the other hand, Canete had 12 points, while Alban and Alcoriza combined for 21 points in the losing effort as Arellano faced their first defeat in the season.
The Scores:
LPU 82 – Perez 31, Nzeusseu 15, Ayaay 13, Marcelino JV 10, Serrano 4, Pretta 3, Caduyac 2, Cinco 2, Marcelino JC 2, Ibañez 0, Santos 0, Tansingco 0.
ARELLANO 65 – Cañete 12, Alban 11, Alcoriza 10, Villoria 9, Meca 6, Dela Cruz 4, Concepcion 4, Sera Josef 3, Codiñera 2, Ongolo Ongolo 2, Santos 2, Abdurasag 0, Dela Torre 0, Sacramento 0.
QUARTER SCORES: 19-33; 37-41; 58-54; 82-65
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