CENTRO Escolar University recovered in the nick of time to ward off Go Torakku-St. Clare, 73-69, and nab its second straight victory in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena.

The Scorpions wasted an early 15-point lead and trail by as many as six in the waning minutes but unleashed a searing 12-2 closeout to hack out the pesky win and strengthen their grip of third spot at 2-1.

Franz Diaz led the way with 18 points and five assists but it was Daniel Marcelo who saved the day by pouring 12 of his 16 points in the shaky payoff period for CEU after dominating the first half.

Marcelo drained a big trey inside the last two minutes before converting the go-ahead and-one bucket in the last 41 seconds to help the Scorpions erase a 61-67 deficit and stay in the Top-Two race for an outright semifinal berth.

“We just said na kaya pa. Kaya pa ito. I love my boys up the point na may times na hindi na namin alam gagawin kasi magulo na but at the end of the day, I really trust them to do something special sa dulo,” said CEU coach Jeff Perlas.

“Actually, since I came here sa CEU, di pa namin natatalo ang St. Clare sa kahit anong liga. I just said to the team na we really need to win against St. Clare. It’s a big win for us and it gives a chance sa Top 2.”

CEU, fresh from a 126-91 rout of Keanzel Basketball last week, started like a house on fire with an early 24-9 upperhand only to cool down the rest of the way amidst a fiery St. Clare fightback.

Slowly but surely, Go Torakku-St. Clare trimmed CEU’s big lead and managed to tie things up, 52-all, entering the fourth quarter, where it ran roughshod until stealing the driver’s seat for good at 62-56 after Megan Galang’s trey.

Go Torakku-St. Clare was still in command, 67-61, after yet another Galang triple in the 2:45 mark but that was their last stand as CEU retaliated with 10 unanswered points capped by Marcelo’s and-one and Diaz’s floater for a 71-67 lead with seven seconds to go.

Babacar Ndong’s quick alley-oop after a timeout hardly mattered as Diaz sealed the deal with two freebies for an overall 12-2 finish and the final tally.

Galang fired 19, Ndong put up 14 points and 13 rebounds while John Mark Estacio and Ryan Isaac Sual had 10 apiece in the third straight loss of Go Torakku-St. Clare.

The scores:

CEU (73) – Diaz 18, Marcelo 16, Malicana 7, Serrano 6, Olusesi 5, Gamboa 5, Bernabe 4, Mendoza 4, Puray 3, Darbin 3, Guevarra 2, De Guzman 0, Santos 0.
Go Torakku-St. Clare (69) – Galang 19, Ndong 14, Estacio 10, Sual 10, Cabauatan 9, Burgos 6, Yu 1, Tapenio 0, Peñaga 0, Decano 0, Angeles 0.
Quarterscores: 22-9, 41-30, 52-52, 73-69.