MAPUA will celebrate its centennial year with a historic feat for the ages.
The Cardinals ended 33 years of waiting by bagging the NCAA men's basketball championship Saturday with a convincing 94-82 victory vs. College of St. Benilde for a sweep of the best-of-three finals.
A sea of yellow and red at the jam-packed Smart Araneta Coliseum celebrated with the new champion, as Mapua regained the crown it last wore on its head back in 1991.
The championship also comes as a fitting gift to the university which will mark its 100th year anniversary in January 2025.
By sweeping the title series, the Cardinals had been undefeated in their last 12 games, including a nine-game sweep of the second round of the eliminations.
The Cardinals took control of Game 2 in the second quarter, where they held the Blazers to just 14 points before pouring everything in the second half by shooting 8-of-16 from three-point range to put immense pressure on the embattled green-and-white.
Mapua's heartbreakthrough
When everything was over, coach Randy Alcantara and all the Cardinals were reduced to tears, as they finally buried the ghost of the past, including their heartbreaking loss to San Beda in last year's finals.
"Siyempre, walang kasing sarap. After three tries, yung minimithi namin, finally nakuha namin," said Alcantara, a member of the last Mapua team to win the championship back in 1991 as a player.
Aside from Season 99, the Cardinals also finished runners-up during Season 97 behind back-to-back champion Letran.
Alcantara was named Coach of the Year, while Mapua main man Clint Escamis was the Finals MVP after averaging 24.0 points, 4.0 assists, and 4.0 steals.
Last year's Season MVP Escamis again sparked the Cardinals early on, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the first half, before the Cardinals' support crew of Cy Cuenco, Lawrence Mangubat, Chris Hubilla, JC Recto, and Marc Igliane took care of business the rest of the way.
Cuenco top-scored for the newly-crowned champion with 19 points on 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range, Mangubat added 17, and Hubilla, the season's top rookie, had 15 and eight rebounds.
Benilde's new motivation
It was a sorry loss for a Benilde side that consistently held the No. 1 seed for most of the eliminations until suffering a 75-73 loss to Mapua late in the second round.
Justine Sanchez netted 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals to show the way for the Blazers, runners-up for the second time in three seasons. Tony Ynot also added 17, as Season MVP Allen Liwag had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
READ: Benilde's Allen Liwag undisputed as NCAA Season 100 MVP
Benilde went on a 7-0 run at the start of the opening period for its biggest lead of the game, but turnovers proved to be the team's Achilles heel once more.
By halftime, the Blazers already had 16 turnovers to just six for Mapua. They committed 20 turnovers all in all, while the Cardinals only had 11.
The scores:
MAPUA 94 - Cuenco 19, Escamis 18, Mangubat 17, Hubilla 15, Recto 9, Igliane 8, Bancale 6, Garcia 2, Concepcion 0, Fermin 0.
BENILDE 82 - Sanchez 24, Ynot 17, Liwag 14, Sangco 7, Oli 7, Torres 5, Ancheta 4, Ondoa 2, Eusebio 2, Cometa 0, Cajucom 0.
Quarters: 24-23; 45-37; 66-56; 94-82.
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