Mapua gains 4th-place tie, Perpetual Help stuns Letran

MANILA, Philippines—The Mapua Cardinals stayed in the hunt while the Letran Knights hit a speedbump Monday in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan city.

The Cardinals toyed with Emilio Aguinaldo College all game en route to a 98-73 triumph to tie with Jose Rizal University at fourth place in the standing.

Australian-raised Josan Nimed sparked for Mapua with 22 points while Fil-Palestinian Yousef Taha pitched in 19 points and 11 boards for Mapua, which bucked a game-best 27-point outburst from EAC’s Jan Jamon.

Mapua, toting a 7-9 slate, needs to thrive in the last two games of the elimination round for a chance to make it to the final four, via either an outright berth or at least a playoff.

In the other game, the Knights, already assured of the final four, got a rude awakening from also-ran Perpetual Help with a 53-68 setback, which snapped a stellar eight-game winning streak.

Letran, still hoping to snare the twice-to-beat incentive, which will come in handy with defending champion San Beda as potential opponent, lost hold of the second spot to the Red Lions (12-2) by just half a game.

The Altas’ chief marksman Jet Vidal led the assault and the third-quarter binge, which created the separation from Letran as he finished with 18 points.

Perpetual Help notched its fourth win with 13 losses but is already out of contention after Friday’s overtime loss to the Bombers.

VJ Espiritu scored 14 points, while burly main man Jam Cortes finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a losing effort.