MANILA, Philippines – Arellano U leaned on Nard Pinto's fourth quarter explosion as it eked out a shock 67-66 victory over three-peat NCAA champion San Beda to plant a foot into the quarterfinal round of the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan City Wednesday.
Pinto, a sophomore out of Zamboanga City, erupted for nine of his game-high 17 points in the final canto to lift the Chiefs to a massive upset of the Lions, whom the former have never beaten in all of their first eight games since joining the NCAA four seasons back.
"The players made it happen and Nard (Pinto) is our go-to-guy and the spiritual leader of this team and his effort today opened the door for us to get this win," said Arellano U coach Koy Banal, who steered San Beda to the 2006 NCAA title before Frankie Lim took over the next year.
The victory was the Legarda-based dribblers' fifth against two losses that pushed them a step closer from clinching the second of four quarterfinal berths staked in Group A and closer to runaway leader National U, which swept the group with eight wins.
The Lions, in contrast, fell from solo second to a share of third with the idle Adamson Falcons with identical 3-2 (win-loss) records.
Rome dela Rosa and Baser Amer paced San Beda with 14 and 13 points, respectively, but the Mendiola-based school failed to draw a strong effort from Nigerian Ola Adeogun, who managed only eight points and six rebounds in only 15 minutes of action.
University of the East likewise inched closer to the quarters as it nailed its fifth win against two defeats with an 82-72 win over Lyceum.
But the Warriors had to claw their way back from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter before escaping with the win that got an ugly notice from UE mentor Boycie Zamar, who also made mention of their horrific free throw shooting.
"It's all mental, missing free throws. I just really hate it seeing my players missing free throws," he said.
Lyceum fell to its fifth straight loss.