Pirates trample Cards to get back on track

MANILA, Philippines – Lyceum threw the defensive gauntlet on Mapua's top gunners Joseph Eriobu and Kenneth Ighalo and hammered out a 74-59 victory to nail its second win in the 89th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City on Saturday.

Dexter Zamora came out of his shell after struggling in his first two games and fired a game-high 22 points while Shane Ko and Wilson Baltazar scattered 15 and 10 points apiece but it was defense that did it for the Pirates.

Coming into the game with a game plan, Lyceum executed it to perfection as it held Eriobu and Ighalo, who exploded with 30 and 21 points in Mapua's 104-99 win over San Sebastian last Monday, to just a combined nine points that sealed its second win in three starts.

"Our game plan is to really stop their top two scorers, Ighalo and Eriobu, and we were successful in doing that," said Lyceum coach Boni Tan.

The win more than made up for the Pirates' heartbreaking 60-68 defeat at the hands of the Arellano U Chiefs last week. Lyceum's first win came at the expense reigning three-peat champion San Beda, 70-66, last June 24.

Jeson Cantos and Mark Brana led the Cardinals with 16 and 15 points, respectively, but their offense didn't look as crisp and smooth as in its last game to fall to their second defeat against a victory.

It didn't help that Mapua missed 12 of 22 free throws it attempted and turned the ball 24 times.

Cameroonian Issah Mbomiko, the smallest African player at 6-3 and the only one of his nationality to ever tried out and not recruited by any team in the country, drew praise from Tan.

"He may be the smallest African playing in the Philippines, but his biggest contribution to this team is his heart," said Tan of Mbomiko. "He's also my team captain on defense, he gets angry when the other players play soft in defense."

The 6-3 Mbomiko said he doesn't care about being small.

"For me, I don't really care if I'm small, its really how you play," said Mbomiko.

The scores:

Lyceum 74- Zamora 22, Ko 15, Baltazar 10, Francisco 8, Mbomiko 8, Azores 7, Ambohot 2, Mendoza 2, Soliman 0, Lacastesantos 0, Alanes 0, Garcia 0, Lesmoras 0

Mapua 59- Cantos 16, Brana 15, Saitanan 9, Eriobu 6, Magsigay 4, Isit 3, Estrella 3, Ighalo 3 Gabo 0

Quarterscores: 14-10; 32-28; 50-47; 74-59