NCAA: Perez drops career-high 31 as Lyceum rallies past Arellano

CJ Perez carried Lyceum to an 82-65 comeback victory over Arellano in the NCAA Season 94 men’s basketball tournament Tuesday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The reigning league MVP unleashed a career-best 31 points that went with six rebounds, six assists and five steals to help keep the Pirates recover from a poor start and improved to 4-0.

Last year’s finalists were down as much as 16 in the first quarter where the Chiefs ran rampant with 33 points but slowly wrested the lead in the ensuing period and never turned back.

“Arellano is really a dangerous team. We have to respect them. They really played well as a team,” said Lyceum coach Topex Robinson.

Mike Nzeussue added 15 and 11 rebounds for Lyceum, while MJ Ayaay had 13.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, dropped to 1-1, failing to follow up their opening-game win against Emilio Aguinaldo.

Michael Canete finished with 12 points in a losing effort for Arellano.