MANILA – Lyceum of the Philippines Pirates banked on its tight defense to overpower Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals, 95-75, in the NCAA Season 94 men’s basketball at the San Juan Arena.
The Pirates threw its defensive shade on the gritty Generals in the second half on Thursday. It forced the latter to commit season-worst 38 turnovers. The former, on the other hand, translated these to 22 points.
“We know that defense is our strength and we just have to keep feeding it,” said Pirates head coach Michael Robinson. “It came as no surprise that it was close in the first half.”
Jaymar Parez led the way with 19 points while Mike Nzeusseu and Jaycee Marcellino scattered 18 and 15 points, respectively.
The Pirates stretched its unbeaten run to 12 games.
The Generals was able to keep in step with the Pirates in the first half. It had 10 lead changes and four deadlocks, with last at 41-40.
The Pirates were up by just eight points at the end of third period but a furious defensive plays in the final quarter allowed it to pull away by as much as 20 points on hits by Perez and Marcellino.
Jerome Garcia unloaded a season-best 30 points including six three-pointers, while Juju Bautista had 19 markers. But these weren’t enough to help the Generals from absorbing a ninth defeat against two wins.
In the second match, Lawrence Victoria scored on a turnaround basket. Mapua University Cardinals turned back Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 81-79, to snare its third win against eight defeats. The Bombers faltered to 2-10./PN
