Heavy Bombers escape gritty Cardinals

Jose Rizal University pushed Mapua into a big fourth quarter meltdown to pull off a tense 70-69 victory yesterday in the 87th National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Trailing by as many as 14 points, 5-0-64, the Heavy Bombers methodically cut down the Cardinals' lead, using a trapping defense to force turnovers, while scoring steadily from the floor.

Alex Almario, who was fouled by Kenneth Ighalo as he goes up for a basket, with 17.8 seconds to go, sealed JRU's second win in four games after splitting his charities. The foul-plagued Cardinals then missed three chances to score as the clock expired. They remain winless after four games.

John Lopez led the Bombers with 14 points, while Jecksteer Apinan, Raycon Kabigting and Byron Villarias all finished with double digit outputs to lead the Heavy Bombers.

Kabigting sparked JRU's fightback with a pair of jumpers and a trey, touching off an 11-3 run that shoved the Mandaluyong-based dribblers on top by one, 63-64 edge.

The Cardinals fought back, but Lopez tied the count at 69-all when he drove past 6’7 Fil-Palestinian Yousef Taha with 1:48 left.

“Luckily in the last part of the fourth quarter, gumanda ang defense namin. Duon nagpick-up ang laro ng mga bata. Malaking puntos din sa amin na na-penalty agad sila. Kaya sinabihan ko sila na everytime they have the ball, go for jumpshots, and unless open, drive hard to the basket,” said JRU coach Vergel Meneses.

In the juniors division, the San Beda Red Cubs drew 20 points from Van Abatayo and 19 apiece from national youth under-16 cager Arvin Tolentino and Francis Abarcar to rout La Salle Greenhills, 95-79, for their fourth consecutive win.

Rodolfo Alejandro, meanwhile, had 46 points for the Mapua Red Robins, who downed the Jose Rizal Light Bombers, 78-66, and hike their record to 2-2.