NCAA: JRU routs Arellano, Atlas victorious over Pirates

MANILA, Philippines – Nate Matute led the JRU Heavy Bombers to a 77-65 victory over the underperforming Arellano Chiefs at the 88 NCAA at the Arena in San Juan on Thursday, June 28.

Matute scored 17 of his 29 total points in the third quarter to clinch the win for the Heavy Bombers.

After a level first half, JRU started out the third quarter with back-to-back triples from Matute, which gave his team a 10 point margin in the last four minutes.

But the Chiefs refused to hand in the towel, and Nard Pinto, Ralph Salcedo and Prince Caperal brought them back with twelve points in that quarter so Arellano, playing their third straight game in five days trailed by 7 at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Heavy Bombers then stepped up their game to crush the Chiefs, on a three-game losing streak.

Five straight points from Matute followed by a jumpsuit from Alex Almario gave JRU their biggest margin of 15, 77-62, before the score finally settled at 77-65.

“Sa situation ng Arellano, sunod-sunod ang game nila kaya medyo sunog na. Advantage na sa amin yun (Arellano’s situation is that they had consecutive games so they’re a bit burnt out. That’s our advantage),” said head coach Vergel Meneses.

“With my veterans John Lopez and Nate Matute, nandun na yung leadership from them since last year na nila ngayon. Last chance na nila ito para iangat yung team (With my veterans John Lopez and Nate Matute, the ledership came from them since it is now their last year. It is their last chance to lift the team).”

Box Scores:

Jose Rizal University (77) – Matute 29, Lopez 12, Villarias 11, Almario 6, Salaveria 4, Mabulac 4, Monserat 4, Carampil 4, Maconocido 3, Porter 0, Munez 0, Camasura 0, Mendoza 0, Dela Paz 0.

Arellano (65) – Pinto 12, Acidre 10, Cadavis 8, Zulueta 8, Hernandez 7, Forrester 7, Bangga 5, Salcedo 4, Capral 4, Valero 0.

Quarterscores: 21-17, 38-36, 59-52, 77-65.

Vidal powers Atlas to victory

Wingman Jett Vidal scored 13 points in the second half to propel the Perpetual Atlas to a 82-70 victory over the Lyceum Pirates on their opening game of the 88th NCAA at the Arena in San Juan.

A 14-0 run by the Altas late in the first half until the 6:50 mark of the second stunned the Pirates, who found themselves down by 12 points, 26-14, thanks to rookie Nosa Omorogbe, Justin Alano and Joel Jolangcob.

In the second half, LPU pulled back and outscored the Atlas 28-18.

The fourth quarter started out with the Altas leading by five, but then the Pirates pulled back 3 to 57-59.

Perpetual reacted with a 6-0 rush in order to attain a comfortable 65-57 gap they were able to hold on to until the final buzzer.

Jett Vidal finished with 17, and guard Earl Thompson added 16, while 6’4 Cameroonian rookie Nosa Omorogbe scored 14 in spite of coming off an ACL injury.

Box Scores:

Perpetual (82) – Vidal 17, Thompson 16, Omorogbe 14, Paulino 9, Babayemi 6, Allen 6, Jolangcob 5, Alano 5, Arboleda 2, Elopre 2, Asuncion 0.

Lyceum (70) – Cayabyab 17, Ko 11, Francisco 11, Zamora 9, Laude 8, Guevarra 4, Azores 4, Garcia 2, Edding 0, Mendoza 0, Martinez 0, Mallari 0.

Quarter scores: 19-14, 39-26, 57-54, 82-70. – Rappler.com