NCAA: Mapua rides Cyrus Cuenco’s career-high to escape EAC in OT

After a woeful 0-3 start in the NCAA Season 102, Mapua University has now rolled to its third straight win with a gritty 89-84 overtime win against Emilio Aguinaldo College on Tuesday.

Veteran guard Cyrus Cuenco had his best game of his career after erupting for 28 points on a 7-of-16 shooting clip from deep, along with four rebounds and four assists as the Cardinals improved to 3-3 to revive their campaign.

Ivan Lazarte backstopped him with a double-double of 24 markers and 10 boards as Yam Concepcion grabbed 13 rebounds and chipped in with seven points to help power the streaking Cardinals, who were coming off back-to-back wins over San Beda and Arellano.

“All of our games are close so I think that’s the experience that we got from the past games. So during overtime, I told them that it’s another grind-out game for us,” Mapua head coach Chito Victolero said.

“We need to move forward from those rookie mistakes. I need to be patient with these guys since we have a lot of rookies. Again, with this guy (Cuenco), our team captain stepping up in the overtime, was a big help for us.”

It was a dogfight between the Cardinals and the Generals.

Cuenco came up big late in regulation, drilling a triple before sinking a pair of free throws to give the Cardinals a 71-65 lead. But Mapua committed costly blunders down the stretch, including a shot-clock violation and an unsportsmanlike foul that sent Wilmar Oftana to the line and paved the way for MJ Raymundo’s overtime-forcing layup.

Cuenco had a chance to win it on the next possession, but his corner triple missed the mark.

But the senior guard quickly made up for it in overtime by sinking two straight three-pointers before Lazarte knocked down a triple of his own to create some separation, 81-72.

The Generals mounted another fightback by pulling to within four, 82-86, following two freebies from Kyle Ochavo but Mapua tightened up down the stretch to halt the comeback bid.

—JMB, GMA News