NCAA: Aggressive Lyceum trips EAC to return to winning ways

Lyceum’s McLaude Guadaña. –NCAA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A hungry Lyceum scored a bounce back win against Emilio Aguinaldo College, 79-73, in the second round of the NCAA Season 98 men’s basketball tournament at San Juan Arena on Wednesday.

The Pirates, who lost to Mapua on Sunday, played fast-paced offense, leading big over the Generals at the end of the first half alone, 50-38.

“I expected them to be aggressive after our loss but to pull away like that against this team, I didn’t expect it.  The way they played, they showed me that they really wanted to bounce back,” coach Gilbert Malabanan said.

Lyceum was already well ahead entering the second half when McLaude Guadaña took matters into his own hands and sparked a personal 9-2 run to give the Pirates their biggest lead, 59-40. Guadaña finished with 19 points and two steals.

Malabanan’s troops pushed the pace on offense as they scored 17 points in the fastbreak while the Generals, who moved down to a 1-10 card, only had eight.

Enoch Valdez and Vince Cunanan helped Lyceum’s cause with 10 points each. Valdez also registered six rebounds.

Nat Cosejo, this week’s NCAA Player of the Week, continued his good showing with 26 markers, six boards and four assists in a losing effort. Mac Balowa and JP Maguliano also finished with 12 to their names for the Generals.

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The Scores:

LPU 79 — Guadana 19, Valdez 10, Cunanan 10, Umali 7, Vinoya 7, Villegas 6, Bravo 6, Larupay 5, Navarro 4, Penafiel 3, Montano 2.

EAC 73 — Cosejo 26, Balowa 12, Maguliano 12, Cosa 7, Bajon 5, Luciano 4, Liwag 4, Tolentino 3, Ad. Doria 0, Dominguez 0, Angeles 0, Quinal 0.

Quarters: 29-20, 50-38, 65-53, 79-73.