By Kevin Estrada
San Sebastian fired another huge rally in the fourth quarter to stun Lyceum with a nail-biting 95-93 win in the NCAA Season 100 Men’s Basketball Tournament Wednesday at the FilOil-EcoOil Centre.
The Stags surged late to overpower the Pirates, coming from 10 points down to secure their second straight win, who then shared the top spot of the team standings with the St. Benilde Blazers.
Junior guard Rafael Are took over for Baste, as he flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 25 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.
Reymart Escobido and Tristan Felebrico provided the buffer for Are, with the former hitting half of his shots to finish with 23, and the latter then pulling up a double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds.
After a dead-heat of a first half, San Sebastian broke through in the third period as they established a six-point buffer heading into the final frame.
But Lyceum fought back in the payoff period with John Barba scoring 10 of his 25 points there and were even up 93-83 with 1:24 remaining after Vincent Cunanan picked off one of Are’s passes to score an uncontested layup.
However, Baste unleashed a 12-0 reply thereafter, which was punctuated by a three-point play by Lauren Gabbat to give them the go-ahead with 39.6 seconds remaining.
Then, their defense held the fort for the remainder of the contest as Escobido knocked down a split from the line for the final count, which was preserved in the dying seconds as Mclaude Guadaña’s last-second try from beyond the arc clanked off the rim.
Despite Barba’s best game in the collegiate ranks, Lyceum fell at the bottom with a 0-2 record after their heartbreaking defeat.
The Scores:
SAN SEBASTIAN 95 – Are 25, Escobido 23, Felebrico 14, Velasco 12, R. Gabat 6, L. Gabat 6, Aguilar 3, Suico 2, Ricio 2, Lintol 2, Pascual 0, Barroga 0, Maliwat 0
LYCEUM 93 – Barba 25, Bravo 13, Guadaña 12, Moralejo 10, Cunanan 8, Montaño 7, Daileg 6, Villegas 6, Panelo 5, Gordon 1, Peñafiel 0, Aviles 0, Paulo 0
Quarter scores: 30-30, 50-50, 74-68, 95-93
