MAPUA and Letran scored contrasting victories yesterday to catch up with previously unbeaten Perpetual Help at the helm in the 99th NCAA juniors’ basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
The Red Robins fought back from 10 points down late in the third quarter to post a nail-biting 72-71 victory over the Junior Altas, who were sent crashing to their first defeat after a scorching 5-0 start.
That result, coupled with the Squires’ 83-69 triumph over the Emilio Aguinaldo College Brigadiers earlier, created a three-way logjam on top among Letran, the defending champion, Mapua and Perpetual with 5-1 cards.
Lawrence Mangubat keyed Mapua’s dramatic fightback, scoring 11 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter when the Red Robins overhauled their double-digit deficit and turned it into a precious win.
Defense helped Mapua as it held down Perpetual to its season-low output after coming into the duel with a league-high average of 94 points a game.
The Red Robins also shackled Perpetual’s top gun Amiel Acido to just six points after averaging 17.2 points an outing before yesterday.
For the Squires, they needed an early assault to set the tone and never relented the rest of the way.
Moses Manalili led the way with 15 points while Jolo Navarro, George Diamante and Jovel Baliling scattered 14, 12 and 11 points, respectively.
