MAPUA stymied a late St. Benilde rally with a furious run of its own to take an 86-83 upset win in the NCAA Season 94 on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
Trailing by one after blowing a 15 point third quarter lead, the Cardinals recovered as Justin Serrano and Laurenz Victoria took turns in blasting the Blazers, scoring six apiece in the final five minutes.
Serrano scored six straight points to restore order after the Cardinals fell behind, 73-72, before Victoria responded to every Benilde basket and keep them at bay.
It culminated in a key pass to Warren Bonifacio who drained the dagger basket to give the Cardinals an 84-80 with 33 seconds to go.
The win gave Mapua its first set of back to back wins since Season 92 to improve to 4-8.
"Yung sistema namin gumana na. Pag maganda yung sistema, maganda ang pasahan. Hindi maiiwasan ang pagkakamali pero babawi rin at babawi," said Mapua head coach Atoy Co.
"We are just happy. Ang aming adjustment was not too much. I did not play everybody. Ngayon, kung sino lang nakikita ko sa ensayo na masipag, yun lang ang ginagamit ko," he added.
Victoria finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead five Cardinals in double digits.
Bonifacio added 12 points, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks, Serrano also finished with 12 as Noah Lugo and Cedric Pelayo finished with 11 and 10, respectively.
Justin Gutang paced the Blazers with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists but that didn't stop his squad from dropping back to back games as they fell to 7-5.
The scores:
Mapua 86 - Victoria 16, Bonifacio 12, Serrano 12, Lugo 11, Pelayo 10, Aguirre 9, Gamboa 8, Buñag 4, Jabel 2, Biteng 2, Nieles 0.
CSB 83 - Gutang 22, Pasturan 16, Leutcheu 15, Naboa 10, Nayve 10, Haruna 8, Dixon 2, Belgica 0, Velasco 0, Young 0.
Quarterscores: 28-19; 49-35; 63-55; 86-83.
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