Chiefs mute Bombers, regain solo 2nd

Games today (The Arena, San Juan)

12 noon – San Beda vs Letran (jrs)

2:30 p.m. – San Beda vs Letran (srs)

MANILA, Philippines - Arellano U shut down Jose Rizal U in the final stretch to eke out a vengeful 75-69 victory yesterday and regain solo second place in the 90th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

American Dioncee Holts put on a superb performance of 23 points on an impressive nine-of-13 stint he spiked with a triple and completed a double-double with 13 rebounds as the Chiefs outlasted the Bombers to move up to solo second at 10-4.

The Bombers dropped to joint third with the St. Benilde Blazers at 9-5.

Prince Caperal, drafted by Global Port in the PBA, recovered from a poor start and wound up with 10 points while the rest backed them up with a gritty defense that took the sting out of the JRU gunners.

“We have to respect their shooters, good thing was we managed to stop them in the end,” said Arellano U coach Jerry Codiñera.

The Chiefs, who gave up more than a hundred points and lost to the Perpetual Help Altas, 86-101, last Sept. 1 and to the Blazers, 97-106, last week, stymied the JRU scorers with a stifling defense.

Philip Paniamogan led the Bombers with 20 points, including a three-pointer that pushed them within a point, 69-70, with 3.20 left in the game.

But John Pinto buried a clutch triple and Arellano U held JRU scoreless the rest of the way to pound out the victory that firmed up the Chiefs’ bid for No. 2.

Earlier, Jebb Bulawan churned out a career-best 20 points as Lyceum got past Emilio Aguinaldo College to keep its slim semis hopes alive, 91-75.

Bulawan, a transferee from Sorsogon, made seven of his 11 attempts from the field and hit all but one of seven foul shots to help snap the Pirates’ four-game skid for a 6-8 card.

“I had to look for him myself and went to Sorsogon to recruit him,” said Lyceum coach Bonnie Tan of the 6-4, 21-year-old Bulawan, who also hauled down seven rebounds.

The win kept the Pirates in the Final Four hunt although they would need to sweep their last four games in the elims and hope that contenders St. Benilde, Perpetual Help and Letran won’t go over 10 wins to gain a playoff for the last semis berth.

But Tan would be more than willing to better their eight-win effort last year.

“We would be happy to just surpass our eight wins last season. If we could match it, we will be contented too,” he said.

The Generals fell to 3-11.

The scores: 

First Game

Lyceum 91 – Bulawan 20, Zamora 16, Gabayni 16, Lesmoras 14, Taladua 10, Mbbida 9, Baltazar 5, Malabanan 1, Soliman 0, Elmejrab 0, Maconocido 0

EAC 75 – Tayongtong 24, Onwubere 16, Arquero 14, Jamon 11, General 7, Serrano 3, Santos 0, Mejos 0, Saludo 0

Quarterscores: 22-19, 38-33, 65-59, 91-75

Second Game

Arellano U 75 – Holts 22, Caperal 10, Hernandez 7, Enriquez 7, Jalalon 6, Pinto 6, Ortega 5, Bangga 4, Gumaru 2, Nicholls 2, Ciriacruz 2, Agovida 2

Jose Rizal 69 – Paniamogan 20, Asuncion 14, Teodoro 13, Abdul Wahab 7, Sanchez 7, Balagtas 4, Mabulac 4, Lasquety 0, Salaveria 0, Miunez 0, Grospe 0, Benavides 0

Quarterscores: 20-16, 39-35, 56-51, 75-69