Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
No Friday the 13th curse hovered over Lyceum as the league leader bulldozed its way past Jose Rizal University, 100-63, in the NCAA Season 93 men’s basketball tournament Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre.
The Pirates have now won all 17 of their games with just one more match remaining in their elimination round schedule while the Heavy Bombers ended the preliminaries with an 11-7 record to finish as the third seeds.
After heading into the fourth with a 68-53 lead, the Pirates then displayed a swashbuckling exhibition that bamboozled the Heavy Bombers.
The Pirates scored on three consecutive dunks at the start of the fourth with Mike Nzeusseu throwing down a windmill and CJ Perez flushing home a one-hander that gave Lyceum a 74-53 lead.
Jaymar Pretta then lobbed up a pass to the open Perez on the fastbreak for an alley-oop dunk that put the Pirates up 76-55 with 8:07 left in the game.
“We came to play, we came to honor the game and we will play how we always play,” said Pirates head coach Topex Robinson of the dominating win. “We are going to play the way we play even if it’s against JRU or San Beda.”
“You always want to be at your best.”
Lyceum’s victory over JRU transcended the whole elimination round, as the 37-point margin was six points shy of tying the combined losing margin of the Heavy Bombers prior to facing the Pirates in the second half of the tournament.
JRU’s second-biggest loss was also against Lyceum, 96-75.
Perez filled the stat sheets for the Pirates finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
Lloyd Castor had 12 points to pace the Heavy Bombers.