Centro Escolar University was held scoreless in the last four minutes but held on to beat Lyceum of the Philippines University, 72-69, in the Universities and Colleges Athletic League-PG Flex Linoleum Season 6 yesterday at the Paco Arena in Manila.
The Pirates of Batangas looked headed to forcing an overtime after crawling their way back from a huge 14-point deficit at the halfway mark of the payoff period but failed to buy a basket in two occasions, including a desperate three-point shot by Tristan Gad in the dying seconds.
The thrilling escape enabled the Scorpions to finish the first phase of elims with a 6-2 record, good enough to assure themselves a spot in the second phase where the top four finishers play another round and the first two placers earning bonuses in the knockout quarterfinal round.
Meantime, Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas secured the No. 1 spot with a thrilling 84-81 win over University of the Batangas to with a 7-1 record. Going for back-to-back titles, the Scorpions started tentatively and trailed the Pirates by three,
39-36, at the half despite the splendid performances of the 5-foot-8 dynamo in Daniel Marcelo and Franz Ray Diaz.
The dynamic duo pressed their attack in the third with Marcelo coming through with a couple of jaw-dropping dunks that highlighted their offensive spurts that saw them outscore the Pirates, 22-14, to build a 58-53 lead going into the final quarter.
CEU padded its lead to 72-58 on Diaz’s basket with 5:28 remaining but suddenly went cold offensively allowing to Lyceum to a stage a comeback and make the game interesting to the delight of the crowd.
Marcelo led all scorers with 26 points apart from logging one assist and one rebound while Diaz had a solid all-around performance of 23 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Alpha Bah produced another double-double of21 points and 13 rebounds for the Pirates who fell to 3-3, tying Diliman College for 5th to 6th places.
The fifth to ninth places, meantime, also play another round with the last placer going to be eliminated first.
