Lyceum of the Philippines University is back in the semifinals. The Pirates booked the last playoff spot after scoring a hard-fought 82-81 win against league-leader College of Saint Benilde in the NCAA 100 men's basketball tournament at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Friday.Lyceum (10-8) will join Mapua University (14-3), Benilde (14-4) and San Beda University (10-7) in the Final Four.With 51 seconds left in the game, Gab Cometa fired a triple to cut Lyceum's lead to one, 80-79.Renz Villegas then scored a bucket to give the Pirates an 82-79 lead with 13.2 seconds to go.The Blazers had an opportunity to send the game to overtime as Tony Ynot found Allen Liwag inside the paint for a potential three-point play. However, Liwag missed his free throw attempt and Lyceum escaped with the victory and a ticket to the Final Four.'This our first time to lead against Benilde in early minutes, but they chased us. Again, I give credit to my players and coaches, their dedication is really there, and we need to add more defensively coming to the Final Four,' Lyceum head coach Gilbert Malabanan said.Ato Barba led the Pirates with 27 points while JM Bravo added 12.Liwag, on the other hand, paced the Blazers with a double-double performance of 12 points and 16 rebounds.Lyceum's win also ended Emilio Aguinaldo College's (8-9) chances of making the semis.
