Games today:

(Filoil EcoOil Centre) 

12 p.m. — Lyceum vs Perpetual 

2:30 p.m. — San Beda vs Letran 

After a frustrating debut, Clint Escamis regained his deadly form and powered Mapua University to a thrilling 90-87 victory over Arellano University in Season 101 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament on Saturday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Escamis was sizzling hot, delivering 29 points on 10-of-16 field goal shooting with three rebounds, three assists and three steals to keep the Cardinals unbeaten in Group A of the preliminaries.

The Season 100 Finals Most Valuable Player’s performance is way better than what he had in the opener in which he was limited to just eight points in their nail-biting 90-89 double-overtime win over Lyceum of the Philippines University in the opening salvo last Wednesday.

“I really wanted to do better after the last game,” said Escamis, who is obviously ripe to turn pro but opted to return to lead the Cardinals to another title.

“I worked hard in training, and compared to the last game, I played well. What I really want is to remain healthy throughout the season, and I hope that I can be, and continue to facilitate my teammates.” 

“I know my teammates got my back but I know I still needed to perform today, lead and facilitate for the team to serve as a good example.”

But despite Escamis’ brilliant performance, the defending champions still had a hard time putting away the Chiefs in the closing moments of the game.

With the Cardinals protecting a five-point lead, 87-82, in the final 61 seconds of the game, Yuan Camay completed a three-point play to help Arellano cut the lead to two. 

Marc Cuenco converted a layup with 36 seconds left to give Mapua a four-point cushion, but Joseph Hernal scored on a putback to put Arellano within striking distance, 87-89, with 27 seconds remaining.

Cuenco split his two free throws to give Mapua some breathing room with 12.1 seconds remaining before watching Camay muff his three-pointer in the dying seconds to seal the victory.

Cuenco contributed 14 points while Cyrus Nitura had a double-double game with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals, who are now on top of Group A.

Basti Valencia posted 13 points for the Chiefs, who absorbed their first loss of the season.