SAN JUAN CITY, Metro Manila — San Beda University squandered double-digit leads, and Lyceum of the Philippines University took the opportunity to turn the tables on the SBC Red Lions, 89-81, at the resumption of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Saturday at the FilOil Arena here.

All the Pirates needed was a telling 11-0 third-quarter run to finish the opponent and complete a rousing victory over the error-prone Red Lions.

It was LPU’s second straight win in three games even as SBU fell to 1-2.

Lyceum simply denied efforts by SBU to stop its offense despite being down by as many as 15 points, 28-43, late in the first half and went on a huge 3rd-quarter assault, where they outscored the Red Lions, 26-17, for a slim 66-65 advantage heading into the final canto of their face off.

In the first game, the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers barged into the win column as it dominated the perimeter shooting by scuttling Emilio Aguinaldo College, 97-74.

A huge third-quarter attack paved the way for JRU’s breakthrough win spearheaded by the team stalwarts in Agem Miranda, John Amores, and Joshua Guiab while limiting the Generals to just 10 points in seven attempts in the quarter.

According to JRU head coach Louie Gonzales, their win was his wards’ extreme desire to show their skills and determination to triumph against the odds.

“Actually what fuels us to finish strong is during our last game, we did our best already pero for us to make a statement that we really belong in this league is for us to make an absolute best every second, every minute doon sa floor,” Gonzalez pointed out.

The Scores:

First Game

Jose Rizal 97 — Miranda 20, Sy 20, Delos Santos 17, Amores 11, Guiab 9, Celis 7, Dionisio 5, Dela Rosa 3, Villarin 3, Arenal 2, Gonzales 0, Medina 0.
Emilio Aguinaldo 74 — Cosejo 27, Robin 18, Liwag 15, Gurtiza 4, Luciano 4, Balowa 2, Quinal 2, Tolentino 2, Umpad 0, Bajon 0, Maguliano 0, Bacud 0, Dominguez 0, Doria Ad. 0, Cosa 0.

Quarterscores: 25-22, 52-41, 71-51, 97-74

Second Game

Lyceum 89 — Montaño 18, Valdez 17, Umali 14, Barba 12, Villegas 8, Guadaña 7, Peñafiel 6, Cunanan 4, Larupay 2, Navarro 1, Bravo 0, Omandac 0.
San Beda 81 — Bahio 19, Cuntapay 16, Kwekuteye 15, Alfaro 13, Ynot 10, Cortez 8, Sanchez 0, Andrada 0, Cometa 0, Visser 0, Jopia 0, Tagala 0, Llarena 0.

Quarterscores: 16-27, 40-48, 66-65, 89-81.