When Lyceum needed a hero, Joshua Moralejo answered the call to fuel the Pirates’ 78-66 win over the San Beda Red Lions on Tuesday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Lyceum, a bottom-feeder in Group A, improved to 2-7, while San Beda lost solo leadership and slipped into a first-place tie with College of St. Benilde in the standings.
‘Honestly, we just trusted him,’ Lyceum coach Gilbert Malabanan said of his sweet-shooting guard.
‘We give the ball to whoever’s hot. That’s what his teammates are doing even our main scorers, when they saw that Josh had the hot hand they kept feeding him the ball.’
Moralejo sizzled with 24 points that went with five rebounds, four assists and a steal.
He scored the Pirates’ last 11 points, including a tough layup that put the game away, 78-64, with 1:29 remaining after the Lions pulled within six.
Gyle Montaño and John Barba backstopped Moralejo with 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Agjanti Miller had 22 points, while Bismarck Lina posted 12 points and eight rebounds for San Beda.