MANILA, Philippines – JP Maguliano caught fire and towed the EAC Generals to their first win in the 99th NCAA men’s basketball tournament over the cold-shooting Perpetual Help Altas, 75-67, Wednesday afternoon at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Maguliano scored 24 points on 9-of-13 goal shooting to lead the Generals to the win. He also recorded nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Arellano held double digits back in the first half, but Perpetual eventually cut it to four, 57-53, going into the final quarter.
EAC then pulled off necessary stops to keep Perpetual at bay and march to the win.
Carlo Ferreras led the Altas with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Marcus Nitura also finished in double digits with 11 markers and eight boards.
Following Maguliano in scoring was Ralph Robin, who finished with 12 points.
Nat Cosejo had 10 for the Generals.
The whole team was not able to sink a 3-pointer, as they shot 0-of-28 from beyond the arc, compared to the Generals’ 9-of-34.
However, Perpetual doubled EAC’s free throw attempts, making 19-of-34 from the charity stripe compared to EAC’s 8-of-17.
The Generals also won despite committing 22 turnovers compared to 10 by Perpetual.