Pirates rally, raid Blazers

MANILA, Philippines -- The Lyceum Pirates completed a 13-point comeback to stun last season’s finalists College of Saint Benilde Blazers, 85-81, to kick off their NCAA Season 99 campaign Sunday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Benilde led by as much as 13 points as early as the first half and was up for the majority of the third quarter.

But Lyceum found its groove and took a 62-57 lead heading into the fourth behind the stellar play of JM Bravo.

Bravo and Shawn Umali helped Lyceum build a double-digit lead, 76-66, as Mclaude Guadana hit a deuce.

As Benilde trimmed the deficit to six, 72-78, following a layup by Robi Nayve, Bravo hit a big shot to keep the Blazers at bay, 80-72, with 2:03 remaining.

Benilde, however, tried to chase after the Pirates and actually cut the lead to two, 83-81, following back-to-back shots by Robi Nayve.

But Umali sank a pair of free throws calmly with 7.4 seconds remaining to set the final score.

The offense of Benilde then took too much time to hoist up a shot, forcing Miggy Corteza to heave an off-balanced 3-pointer that missed.

Bravo led Lyceum with 18 points and eight rebounds. He was followed by Enoch Valdez who had a silent 16 points.

Umali had 14 of his own.

Benilde, meanwhile, was led by Corteza with 21 points.

Nayve, Miguel Oczon and Prince Carlos all had 13 apiece.

Despite being down by double digits early, Lyceum head coach Gilbert Malabanan said he told his wards to stick to their goal.

“I told them at halftime that the game does not end at the half. We need to stick together, we need to stick to the plan and we just changed a bit of our game plan and that’s why we took our first win tonight,” Malabanan said in Filipino.

Despite their victory, Malabanan underscored that the team cannot be overconfident.