University of Perpetual Help System Dalta whipped Lyceum of the Philippines University, 72-57, to snap its three-game losing streak in Season 101 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament Sunday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

Mark Gojo Cruz led the Altas with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists as they finished the preliminary round with a 9-4 win-loss record.

Perpetual head coach Olsen Racela wanted his boys to treat the game as if they were already in the playoffs.

“I told them to treat this like a playoff game and I told them to know what we’re preparing for and I think they did that in this game,” Racela said as Perpetual took the top spot of the standings for the first time since 2004.

“We had time to work on what we needed to improve. We were hitting shots but more importantly, we were moving the ball.”

The Altas will be facing the winner between Jose Rizal University and Emilio Aguinaldo College in the quarterfinal on Thursday at 11 a.m. at the same San Juan venue.

Perpetual finished the first quarter with a 21-9 lead and remained in the driver’s seat for the rest of the game.

John Abis, JP Boral and Juan Tulabut all scored nine points each in the win for Perpetual.

John Barba dropped 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists but to no avail as the Pirates ended their eliminations with a 3-10 record.

In the second game, Letran College prevailed over rival San Beda University, 87-83, behind Jonathan Manalili’s career-high 26 points.

Manalili shot 9-of-15 from the field and dished out 11 assists as the Knights finished with an 8-5 record heading into the quarterfinals

“So for this one-week preparation, we really sat down and talked about San Beda going to this game. What he needs to do offensively and defensively, yeah, I give to him and to coaches,” Letran head coach Allen Ricardo said.

With a slim 82-81 lead and 1:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, Manalili scored back-to-back layups to establish a five-point lead.

Rookie Janti Miller drained a jumper with 12 seconds left but Manalili split his free throws with seven ticks left to seal the game.

Miller also had a career game of 34 points for San Beda but fell short as its three-game winning streak  got snapped.