Cardinals tow Blazers into Final Four

MANILA, Philippines — Lawrence Mangubat took charge late in the fourth quarter as Mapua survived a furious Lyceum of the Philippines University fightback with a 69-68 victory yesterday to advance to the NCAA Season 100 Final Four at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.

The sweet-shooting rookie guard led his team with 16 points, half of them in the final period when the Cardinals survived the Pirates’ onslaught and snared an 11th win in 14 outings, enough for a semis seat.

It also gave leader St. Benilde (11-2) a Final Four berth on a silver platter.

Mangubat’s wrath was felt most in the dying seconds when he scored five points in a hurry – a jumper that knotted it at 66 with 21 ticks left and a triple with five seconds remaining that gave Mapua the lead for good.

While Mangubat served as the fireman that extinguished the fourth quarter fire, Chris Hubilla, Marc Cuenco and team captain Clint Escamos did most of the dirty job and finished with 14, 11 and 10 points, respectively.