Pirates keep slate spotless, hand Knights first loss

Lyceum rallied from 13 points down to keep its slate clean and hand Letran their first defeat, 101-95, in the the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup at Filoil Flying V Centre on Friday.

A couple of put-backs, one each from big man Mike Nzeusseu and guard JC Marcelino gave the Pirates a pivotal 96-93 lead in the stretch that greased Lyceum’s path to a 3-0 record.

Down 48-61 after a triple from Letran’s Fran Yu, the Pirates turned to twins JC and JV Marcelino to shred the Knights’ defense and spearhead a 9-0 run that trimmed the deficit to four.

Nzeusseu finished with 20 points and 10 boards as Lyceum climbed to the Group B lead. Raymar Caduyac and JC Marcelino each added 18 while Jayson David chipped in 11.

Allen Mina’s 30 points went down the drain for Letran. Mina also had six triples as he helped the Knights control the match early.

Yu and Tommy Olivario added 15 and 10 points respectively.

In another seniors match, the College of St. Benilde Blazers blasted the pesky Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 79-56, for their first win in three matches.

The Blazers built leads of as many as 20 after a 20-6 start but the Bombers seemed to find a way to crawl back, with guard MJ dela Virgen knocking down a turnaround jumper that trimmed the lead to 55-50.

But back-to-back boo-boos by the Bombers blunted their momentum and the Blazers went to Unique Naboa and Yankie Haruna for a 14-2 blast that opened up a 69-55 gap.

“Their press gave us some problems and that is something we have to address especially when the NCAA season opens,” coach TY Tang said. “Luckily, our outside shots started falling for us.”

“I hope that Unique will find the consistency come the NCAA season,” added Tang of his third-year point guard who grew up in New Zealand.

St. Benilde struggled with JRU’s press, indeed, and turned the ball over 36 times but fortunately for the Blazers, the Bombers collected just 13 points from those errors.

Yankie Haruna was the sole Blazer in double digits as he scored 19 points.

CSB ended a two-game slide to go to 1-2 while JRU, under new head coach Louie Gonzales, fell to 0-2.

In the high school division, National University survived a furious battle with La Salle Greenhills to prevail, 86-82.