NCAA: Lyceum blasts Arellano

MANILA, Philippines—Lyceum of the Philippines University pounced on a hapless Arellano, 84-74, to sustain an impressive start in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan Wednesday.

The troika of Chris Cayabyab, Rich Guevarra and Allan Santos punctuated Lyceum’s fourth victory with a solid showing while marksman Gian Mallari blazed from downtown.

Cayabab topscored for the Pirates with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Guevarra finished with 17 points, Mallari 14 points, and Santos 10 boards.

Lyceum, finally getting a shot in the NCAA after knocking several times, blasted the Arellano late in the third quarter which paved way for Chiefs to take full control from then on.

“We really want to give pride to our school even though we’re just a guest team,” said LPU coach Bonnie Tan. “We got a bit lucky in this game.”

A triple by playmaker Dexter Zamora with 1:49 in the third ignited the Pirates to an 8-2 blitz after the Chiefs stayed within a mere basket away for most of the quarter.

Cayabab, Santos and Mallari, who had four triples, then took turns in pushing Arellano down even further as the Pirates built a 16-point advantage midway the payoff period.

Arellano turned to the burly Gerald Lapuz, who once saved the Chiefs with a buzzer-beating triple, but did not draw the needed backup from his wards even from their top scorer Vergel Zulueta.

Even as Zulueta punched in the game-high 23 points, the Chiefs could not break the one point ceiling all game as they came as close as 46-47.

Arellano had a chance to take the lead for the first time, but misfired on four straight free throws before Zamora’s three point conversion.

The Chiefs were also out-rebounded by the Pirates, 26 to 44.

Arellano dropped its fourth assignment with just one victory, while Lyceum improved to 4-2.