MANILA, Philippines — Meet the NCAA’s newest comeback kids.
Arvin Bonleon and his giant-slaying San Sebastian Stags erased a 10-point deficit in the clutch to slay the Lyceum Pirates, 95-93, and zoom to the top of NCAA Season 100 at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.
Down 83-93 with 1:23 left, the Stags closed out with a 12-0 barrage to rise from the dead and snatch their second win in a row and join the St. Benilde Blazers at the helm.
It also showed that SSC-R’s shock, come-from-behind 91-84 win over Letran last Sunday wasn’t a fluke.
San Sebastian is off to a better start than San Beda, the reigning champion whose back-to-back bid took a massive blow after falling to CSB the day before and to a 1-1 slate.
Rafael Are was at the center of it all with a near triple-double with 25 points, a career-high 13 assists and eight rebounds after a 30-point, six-rebound and six-dime effort the last time.
In the other game, rookie Lawrence Mangubat buried five booming triples as Mapua edged Emilio Aguinaldo College, 69-66, to claim its first win in two starts.
The Generals sputtered to 1-1.