LYCEUM hurdled San Sebastian College and realized a lofty goal yesterday.
With Enoch Valdez showing the way, the Pirates tripped the Golden Stags 73-65 and clinched a Final Four slot in the 98th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Valdez sizzled with a career-high 30 points, on top of 11 rebounds, and two assists for Lyceum, while JM Bravo also had 10 markers and eight boards.
Enzo Navarro, who was ejected after committing a technical with 4:36 to go in the fourth, and John Barba also combined for 13 points for the Pirates, who scored a fitting follow-up to their 81-80 squeaker over San Beda University five days ago and hiked their mark to 11-5.
San Sebastian, coming off a 92-74 thrashing of Jose Rizal University last Friday, fell to 6-8.
Lyceum edged the Stags 82-79 when they first met last Oct. 9.
Earlier, also-ran Perpetual Help crushed JRU 72-60 to show the door on the Heavy Bombers.
Jeff Egan led the Altas with 14 points, four rebounds, and eight assists for the Altas, while Carlo Ferreras added 14 markers, three caroms, and five feeds.
Joey Barcuma and Art Roque also had 13 and 12 points, respectively, as Perpetual did an encore of its 89-83 win over College of St. Benilde last Friday and improved to 7-9.
JRU slid to 6-9.
The Altas trailed 25-30 at the break but got their bearings just in time and grabbed a 52-50 buffer going into the payoff period.
Joshua Guiab had 16 and nine for the Bombers, while Agem Miranda got 11 points.
Perpetual also whipped JRU 84-60 in their first-round clash last Sept. 11.
The Pirates took a 36-23 advantage at the half before San Sebastian made it a 49-all game heading into the final stanza.
Romel Calahat paced the Stags with 19 points and nine caroms, while Ichie Altamirano contributed 11 markers and four rebounds.
