Cards halt Knights, stay alive
Mapua held off a rallying Letran down the stretch to pull off an 89-82 victory yesterday to keep its flickering Final Four hopes alive in the 83rd NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in
Kelvin dela Peña missed one rebound from a triple-double performance but his 17-point, 11-assist and nine-rebound effort proved enough to help steer the struggling Cardinals past the Knights for what was only their third victory in nine games.
Still, the win lifted the Cards to fifth place, two games behind the fourth running San Sebastian Stags (3-4) heading into the crucial phase of the double-round elimination phase.
Mapua will need to sweep their last three games against
“I told the players if we play as a team not only in offense but in defense as well, we’ll have a chance against Letran. And we did that in this game,” said Mapua coach Leo Isaac.
Sean Co paced the Cardinals with 22 points and came through with a season-high 11 assists before fouling out with less than a minute to go. He owned the previous high 10 assists in a rare triple-double effort in an 85-75 win over Perpetual Help last July 18.
In the other game, Jose Rizal survived Perpetual Help’s late surge as it eked out a 65-62 win to clinch at least a playoff for a Final Four berth.
Mark Cagoco shot 17 points as the Bombers streaked to their fifth straight win and sixth overall in nine to remain in third.
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