Rookie-laden JRU sinks MIT; Pirates plunder Lions den

Games Thursday

4 p.m. – Arellano U vs San Sebastian 

6 p.m. – Perpetual Help vs EAC

MANILA, Philippines - Lyceum withstood San Beda’s fightback in the last two minutes as the Pirates hacked out a stunning 70-66 upset over the defending three-peat champions to force a three-way tie for the lead with Letran and Jose Rizal University in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan last night.

Shane Ko exploded with a game-high 23 points on an impressive eight-of-13 shooting, including a pair of free throws in the closing seconds that sealed the victory for the Pirates, who succeeded where the St. Benilde Blazers failed the last time out.

It was last season’s last placers’ first win over the league’s best the last three years since Lyceum joined the league in 2011.

“Shane carried us through but I think it’s our defense that helped us,” said Lyceum coach Boni Tan.

The Lions, who escaped with a 71-70 victory over the Blazers in Saturday’s opener of the league’s 89th season, battled back from 10 points down in the last two minutes, moving to within two at 66-68. But Basser Amer misfired from way out for the go-ahead triple and Ko responded from the line on the other side to secure the win for the Pirates.

Earlier, Jose Rizal leaned on its all-rookie cast to scuttle Mapua with relentless full-court trapping defense in the fourth and came away with an 83-72 victory.

Phil Paniamogan exploded with a game-high 24 points while John Pontejos, a transferee from powerhouse San Beda, fired 18 points to help power the Bombers, who have 11 rookies this year, to the victory.

The Bombers actually blew a double-digit lead at the turn as sputtered in the third but clamped down on defense in the fourth to stymie the Cardinals and pound out the win.

“Since I took over the team, I’ve always preached defense,” said JRU coach Vergel Meneses. “I told the boys we will need to play more defense this year because we’re not only young, we’re also undersized.”

Jose Rizal also spoiled the NCAA coaching debut of Atoy Co, who took over from Chito Victolero as Mapua mentor last February.