MANILA – Lyceum of the Philippines Pirates handed College of St. Benilde Blazers its first defeat in the NCAA Season 95 men’s basketball with a 74-71 escape at the San Juan Arena.
Jaycee Marcelino top-scored with 23 points – one shy of his career-high – while Cameroonian center Mike Nzeusseu added double-double 17 points and 16 boards for the 6-1 Pirates.
From a tightly-contested game in the first two quarters, the Pirates broke away in the third period behind the tandem of Marcelino and Nzeusseu to build its largest lead at 68-48 with 29 seconds left.
The Blazers, however, tightened its defense in the fourth quarter. It forced the Pirates to numerous turnovers. The CSB also capitalized on Lyceum’s foul trouble to come to within 70-74 on two free throws by Clement Leutcheu.
The Blazers have multiple opportunities to come even closer but Yankie Haruna and Jimboy Pasturan misfired their attempts, while Negrense Chris Flores only drained one of his free throws.
“We have to give credit to CSB. They just kept on pursuing. They’re coming off their best season so far and they’re playing their best basketball,” said Pirates head coach Michael Robinson.
He added: “We had 25 turnovers, so it’s a credit to their defense. They forced us to commit a lot of turnovers. It’s hard to win games if you’re gonna commit a lot of lousy turnovers.”
Leutcheu had a team-high 15 points to go along
with nine rebounds, while Haruna, Pasturan and Justin Gutang struggled with
just combined 23 markers for the 5-1 Blazers./PN
