MAPUA carved out a 83-77 win over Emilio Aguinaldo College to move closer in bagging the first Final Four slot in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Filoil EcoOil Centre yesterday.

Clint Escamis buried a huge triple and swished a pair of foul shots late to help avert a potential disaster for the Cardinals, who improve to 11-3 and jumped back to No. 1.

One of the league’s leading MVP candidates, Escamis continued his sensational showing for Mapua with 17 points, eight boards, four assists and three steals.

“Of course masaya kami, eto naman gusto namin,” said Cardinals assistant coach JR Carlos, who spoke in behalf of head mentor Randy Alcantara.

Earlier, San Sebastian overpowered deposed champion Letran, 94-75, to keep its Final Four hopes alive with a 5-9 record.

JC Recto also came through when skipper Warren Bonifacio and starting power forward Jopet Soriano sustained ankle injuries and came through with 12 points, 10 caroms and two blocks .

Before leaving early in the fourth, Bonifacio logged 14 points and two blocks for Mapua.

The Generals, who were led by JP Maguliano’s 29 points and 10 rebounds, dropped to 7-7. EAC is now trailing San Beda (8-4) by two games in the race for the last Final Four berth.

Rafael Are and Rommel Calahat presided over the rout carnage by unleashing 23 and 21 points, respectively, as the Stags remain upbeat they can still make the next phase.

“Siyempre one game at a time, kung may chance pa kami, we’ll do our best in each and every game and to learn from it, yun lang naman goal namin,” said San Sebastian coach John Kallos.

The Knights, who drop a league-worst 1-13, missed skipper Kurt Reyson for the second straight game and just most recently, guard Nicko Fajardo, who got injured early in the game.

The Stags also avenged their 71-81 defeat to the Knights in the first round.

San Sebastian is now bracing for another tough game on Sunday versus red-hot College of Saint Benilde that serves as practically a do-or-die game for the Recto-based cagers.

“Siyempre malaki factor yung game nayan, morale booster if we can get that too. We will make sure lalaban kami in the end kahit sino kalaban namin,” said Kallos.

The scores:

First game

SSC-R (94) – Are 23, Calahat 21, Desoyo 13, Re. Gabat 13, Felebrico 10, Escobido 7, Una 6, Sumoda 1, Shanoda 0, Chuidian 0, Velasco 0, Singson 0.
Letran (75) – Garupil 16, Monje 13, Go 13, Cuajao 8, Javillonar 8, Ariar 6, Bautista 4, Fajardo 3, Bojorcelo 2, Batallier 2, Nunag 0, Jumao-as 0, Brilliantes 0, Santos 0.
Quarterscores: 25-22; 51-38; 70-50; 94-75

Second game

Mapua (83) – Escamis 17, Bonifacio 14, Recto 12, Asuncion 9, Dalisay 8, Hernandez 6, Cuenco 5, Rosillo 5, Soriano 5, Igliane 2, Bancale 0.
EAC (77) – Maguliano 29, Ochavo 15, Cosejo 14, Robin 9, Gurtiza 6, Tolentino 2, Angeles 2, Quinal 0, Luciano 0, Ednilag 0, Balowa 0, Loristo 0, Unpad 0, Cosa 0, Bacud 0.
Quarterscores: 27-16; 44-35; 62-49; 83-77.