MANILA, Philippines — Lyceum escaped St. Clare College, 85-82, on Saturday for its second win in the 2014 Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan.
Dexter Zamora poured half of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Pirates, including a trey for an 82-79 lead with only 2:26 to play.
Wilson Baltazar paced Lyceum with 17 markers, Rhoel Maconocido chipped in 15, as Guy Mbida had a near-double-double of 11 points and nine rebounds.
“We were lucky,” head coach Bonnie Tan offered. “We were expecting that kind of game from St. Clare, we used to be a lot like them trying to beat the giants.”
“We’ve been in the NCAA for three years and we have to move on. We can’t always feel like we’re underdogs. Luckily, we pulled through with this win,” he added.
Maconocido extended Lyceum’s lead to five with a fastbreak layup with 38 ticks to go, but the former NAASCU champions won’t go down without a fight.
Jason Ibay knocked down a triple in the ensuing play, and a split from the stripe from Lyceum’s Shane Ko kept the door ajar for St. Clare.
But Ibay, who had a team best production with 18 for the Saints, bungled a triple and the Pirates secured the leather to come home with the win.