NCAA: Lyceum stops San Beda in its tracks to gain third seed

FILE– Lyceum’s Omar Larupay. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Lyceum snapped San Beda’s three-game winning streak with an 81-80 win in the second round of the NCAA Season 98 men’s basketball tournament at San Juan Arena on Wednesday.

The Pirates leaned on Omar Larupay’s clutch heroics to pull ahead to third in the standings at 10-5 behind Letran and College of St. Benilde while the Red Lions dropped to the dangerous fourth seed with a 9-5 card.

San Beda was ahead by five at the 2:24 mark of the fourth quarter when Lyceum mounted a last-ditch rally led by Larupay to salvage the all-important win.

Renzo Navarro’s triple and Larupay’s inside shot tied the game at 78 with 1:14 remaining. Fouled by Yukien Andrada in the ensuing play, Larupay split his free throws to give the Pirates the lead.

But Tony Ynot quickly answered on the other end to put the Red Lions back on top with 15 ticks remaining, 80-79.

Larupay then sank another inside basket to give Lyceum the final lead. He finished with 15 points and seven rebounds while Navarro registered 10 points and seven assists for Lyceum. 

“That’s the play I want for him (Omar). Everytime he goes for a screen, he always has to roll inside. The good thing is, it happened twice this game. I have my shooters outside so they didn’t know who we’d go for,” coach Gilbert Malabanan said. 

JB Bahio, who was hailed last week’s NCAA Player of the Week, finished with another double-double but on a losing effort with 15 markers and 10 boards. Gab Cometa, Tony Ynot, Yukien Andrada and James Kwekuteye also scored 14, 13, 11 and 10, respectively.

The Scores:

LPU 81 — Larupay 15, Navarro 10, Bravo 10, Guadana 9, Umali 9, Valdez 8, Barba 6, Montano 6, Villegas 4, Penafiel 4, Cunanan 0.

SAN BEDA 80 — Bahio 15, Cometa 14, Ynot 13, Andrada 11, Kwekuteye 10, Cuntapay 8, Penuela 5, Sanchez 4, Alfaro 0, Visser 0, Cortez 0, Payosing 0, Llarena 0.

Quarters: 13-20, 41-45, 57-62, 81-80.