Pirates, Griffins set rubber match today

The Lyceum Pirates forced a sudden-death with the Colegio de San Lorenzo Griffins for the last finals berth of the 10th National Collegiate Regional Athletics Association (NCRAA) men’s basketball tournament, winning, 99-85, during their Final Four encounter at the Pearl Plaza gym Monday night.

The No. 3 Pirates and the second-ranked Griffins meet anew at 1:30 p.m. today, the winner of which earns the right to meet three-peat seeking St. Francis College Doves in a best-of-three title series.

Ched Hernandez and Jonjon Refuerzo made sure the no. 3 Pirates lived for another day, sparking Lyceum’s early breakaways that set the tone of the one-sided match.

Hernandez and Refuerzo had 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the first quarter where the Pirates seized a 30-24 lead before settling for a 56-48 halftime advantage.

The score was 89-67 with 7:22 left when Lito Callueng sparked an 11-2, which he capped, with two triples.

Lyceum’s win avenged its heartbreaking 74-77 loss to CDSL during the quarterfinals of the meet sponsored by Airfreight 2100, Villa de Oro-Boracay and www.universitybelt.com.ncraa.

Reigning UAAP women’s champion La Salle and Rizal Technological University also clash in a do-or-die match for the remaining finals slot in the distaff side.

RTU, ranked no. 4, won by default its first semifinal meeting with the highly touted Lady Archers, who claimed they were not aware of the sudden change in playing schedule.

Until that sorry setback, the Lady Archers were unbeaten in nine games in the eliminations.