How sweet it was.
A no-nonsense Mapua University team exacted revenge with a masterful 95-74 win over De La Salle-Dasmariñas recently to annex the title in the 4th Philippine University Basketball League (PUBL) Championship held at the Philippine Lam-An Multi-Sports gym in Abad Santos Avenue, Manila.
With the lopsided triumph, the Cardinals, who lost to DLS-D during the elimination round of the six-team competitions, will represent the Philippines in the 21st ASEAN University Games (AUG) in Surabaya, Indonesia from June 25 to July 6, 2024.
The two teams shadowboxed in the early goings before Mapua engineered a 7-0 run to move ahead, 21-19.
From there, the 2023 NCAA runner-up Cardinals never trailed. They were up, 31-22, after the first quarter behind Clint Escamis (two triples) and Yam Concepcion.
With Mapua ahead, 42-26, John Edward Jabonete drilled in a three-point play, a twiner, and a triple as the Muralla-based school took a commanding 50-28 lead.
C. Delos Santos knocked in a triple for DLSU-D to slice the deficit to 19, 50-31, but baskets by Rey Ygot and Arjay Panteleon (a three-pointer) propelled Mapua to a 66-34 advantage.
By halftime, and the score was 66-36, the rout was complete. It was all over but the shouting by a sizeable crowd in attendance. The Cardinals kept their foot on the gas after the break, netting the first four points in the third frame, 70-36, to quickly take any life out of the Patriots. Mapua, very aggressive from the get-go with its precision pinball-like offense and suffocating defense, took no prisoners alive and was comfortably ahead, 87-54, heading into the anti-climatic final frame as DLSU-D came no closer than 31 (72-41).
Down 89-54, the Patriots outscored the Cardinals, 20-6, the rest of the way to make the final count more respectable.
The 4th PUBL is held in cooperation with corporate partners Philippine Airlines, PAGCOR, Bestank, Healthy Options, Seascape Village Seafoods, Omni Electrical and Lighting, KELME Sportswear, Paddock’s Casual Jeans, Fronte Motor Parts, and HENN Sports Club.
In the battle for third, the Asian Institute of Management Studies (AIMS) scored a come-from-behind 87-84 decision over New Era University (NEU).
The NEU Hunter was ahead in the early goings, grabbing a 25-16 advantage in the second quarter but a 10-0 run by AIMS put it on the driver’s seat, 28-26. Just as quickly, New Era got its second wind.
From a 30-all deadlock, the Hunter scored nine straight points to go ahead, 39-30. A top-of-the-key triple by Nablo sent New Era to a 42-31 lead at halftime.
Triples from Luanzon (his third) and Catome lifted the Hunter to a 19-point lead, 67-48, with 1:21 left in the third quarter, which concluded at 67-53.
Luanzon opened fourth-quarter fireworks with his fourth triple for a commanding 70-53 edge. A three-point play by Basabica pushed the Hunter’s lead to 16, 75-59.
Nablo had a putback and Angeles split his charities as New Era maintained control, 78-63, at the 5:26 mark. AIMS trimmed the deficit to seven, 78-71, with 3.5 minutes left.
But the game was far from over.
A basket by Peralta deadlocked the score at 81-all with 1:21 left. A triple by Peralta and AIMS regained the upper hand for the first time since the second quarter, 84-81, with 33.5 ticks remaining.
Guiera, following his defensive rebound, went 2 for 2 from the foul line to jack up the AIMS lead to five, 86-81, time down to 21.7 seconds.
Angeles buried a triple to trim NEU’s deficit to two, 86-84, at the 12.4-second mark. With two seconds left, Lapira made his first free throw and then intentionally missed the second to ensure AIMS a hard-earned victory.