Arellano trips Mapua, splits season series against Cardinals

Since Leo Isaac took over as Arellano University's coach in 2010 his Chiefs has split their season series over the Mapua Cardinals.

Arellano avenged its first-round loss to Mapua on Wednesday with a 73-69 win in the 87th NCAA men's basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City. This is the second straight year that Isaac and his Chiefs split their season series against Mapua, a team he coached from 2007 to 2008. Isaac could have swept the Cardinals this season if not for Allan Mangahas' buzzer-beating three-pointer in Mapua's 73-70 triumph last August 1. "My players rose up to the challenge since we have a score to settle against them," said Isaac referring to their close first round encounter. Andrian Celada scored 12 of his 21 points in a pivotal second period where the Chiefs erected a 35-26 halftime spread. Mark Doligon and Jerald Lapuz buried timely hits in the fourth to keep Mapua at bay and help Arellano improve to 6-11 with one game left in its season. Doligon and Lapuz finished with 17 and 12 points each. The loss was costly for Mapua as the Cardinals dropped to 7-10, half-game behind Jose Rizal University (7-9) for the last Final Four berth. The Cardinals face a must-win situation against the Heavy Bombers on October 3 in their final elimination round game. A loss will eliminate them from the Final Four race. Arellano hiked its 14-13 first quarter lead to 13, 33-20, on a Celada lay-up in the second period. The Cardinals tried to turn the game into their favor with Jason Pascual nailing a jumper to push Mapua within three, 56-53, in the fourth. But Lapuz and Doligon hit back-to-back baskets to give Arellano a 60-53 spread. The Chiefs then used up the 24-second shotclock in their every possession after that and it paid dividends as Lapuz, Doligon and Rocky Acidre hit their marks. Mangahas had 13 of his 18 points in the third quarter but only had three in the final period. Josan Nimes made 17 markers while Yousef Taha scored 10 for the Cardinals. — JVP, GMA News