Pirates fuel last-ditch drive

MANILA, Philippines - Lyceum played with sheer guts with a depleted roster as it rallied from 10 points down to beat Emilio Aguinaldo College, 77-73, and revive its semifinal hopes in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Rich Guevarra fired 21 points and finished with seven rebounds and two steals while Mark Francisco shot a career-best 19 points for the Pirates, who played without center Allan Santos, who was suspended for misconduct, guard Dexter Zamora, who dislocated his shoulder in last week’s loss to Arellano, and ailing Kevin Lacap and John Azores.

They trailed at 57-67 with 5:21 left in the contest but clamped down on defense, forcing the Generals to a series of turnovers, which they converted into precious points for the victory that snapped their four-game skid.

It was Lyceum’s sixth against nine defeats as it moved just half-a-game behind idle fourth-running Mapua (6-8) in the battle for the last semifinal berth.

EAC’s Gian Mallari hit a triple to shatter a 70-all count with 47 seconds left in the game but the Generals failed to deliver down the stretch as the Pirates, with Guevarra, Francisco and Jhygruz Laude combining, snatched the win.

“Going into this game we were a little bit down since we lost a lot of players and we were coming from a losing streak,” said Lyceum coach Bonnie Tan.

Francisco, who played a total of 25 minutes in the previous six games, also grabbed 18 rebounds in 32 minutes of action.

Chris Cayabyab nailed 12 points before fouling out and Ko tallied 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for Lyceum.

Claude Cubo had 29 points and nine rebounds for EAC, which fell to ninth place with a 4-10 slate.

Jose Rizal U likewise stayed in the hunt, routing St. Benilde, 78-63, in the second game to tie Lyceum in fifth.

The Heavy Bombers broke away from a tight 40-35 halftime lead behind a 26-17 run to stretch their lead to 14 points at the onset of the fourth quarter.

JRU dominated the boards with 40 rebounds as against ST. Benilde’s 23.

The Blazers dropped to 5-9.

John Lopez scored six of his 10 points in the third period while Nate Matute added five of his 11 points in the same stretch to key the Bombers’ attack.

Juan Taha shot 14 points for the Blazers but was limited to just three markers in the third. Michael Pate took charge in the third, scoring 13 points but was held scoreless in the last period.