Lyceum’s Enoch Valdez flies past College of St. Benilde’s Migs Oczon and Miggy Corteza for the layup. –NCAA Photo
MANILA, Philippines—In a battle of NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball tournament juggernauts, Lyceum prevailed over College of St. Benilde with a narrow 84-81 victory at San Juan Arena on Friday.
The Pirates, who improved to 11-3 in the standings to tie with Mapua at the top spot once again, snapped the Blazers’ five-game win streak with their defensive prowess.
Coach Gilbert Malabanan’s wards forced Benilde to 20 team fumbles which resulted in 28 points off turnovers for Lyceum.
Enoch Valdez paced the Pirates with 15 points and six rebounds while following the memo on defense with three steals. JM Bravo and John Barba, meanwhile, finished with 14 and 13 markers, respectively, in the dub.
Migs Oczon tallied 19 points built on three made triples while the troika of Ray Carlos (16), Will Gozum (13) and Miggy Corteza (11) combined for 40 markers but the Blazers still dropped to a 9-5 card.
ALTAS TALLY THIRD STRAIGHT VICTORY
Perpetual Help’s Art Roque. –NCAA Photo
Luckily for Benilde, San Beda faltered in its duel with Perpetual Help, 61-57, which kept the Blazers in prime position for the third seed.
The Red Lions slid to 8-5 to take the fourth seed momentarily while the Altas reared on for their third straight victory.
Art Roque and Christian Pagaran scattered 19 and 12 markers, respectively, in the victory while Mark Omega snagged a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds to power Perpetual Help to a 7-7 record.
Jacob Cortez’s 22-point outburst was put to waste while Yukien Andrada also scored 11 in the defeat.