Mapua on track to gain 'last Final Four berth'?

It appears that the Mapua Cardinals have finally found a way to compete in the 87th NCAA basketball tournament.

With five wins in the seven games, the Cardinals have climbed up from the cellar to pull within a half-game of the Lyceum Pirates (5-5), a team located just a block away, for fourth spot.

Mapua is no longer choking in the clutch. An example is Monday's gritty 65-62 win over a Perpetual Help Altas team that despite being at the tail-end of the league with a group of cast-offs and unknowns are giving opponents plenty of trouble.

Rookie Josan Nimes has been clutch as of late, draining outside shots with consistency and even making smart plays such as his alley-oop pass to fellow newcomer Yousef Taha that put the Cardinals ahead for good at 63-62.

Allan Mangahas has been showing up in the fourth quarter, veterans like Mark Sarangay and Jason Pascual have helped the "Redbirds" gain some lucky breaks in the homestretch while Jonathan Banal, utility shooter Rodel Ranises and scrappy Kenneth Ighalo have been solid on a few occasions.

The Cards have began to show why some coaches and pundits tagged them as favorites before the start of the season. Unfortunately, their start was awful that it left people scratching their heads.

Mapua was given a sound beating by Letran, a team that failed to enter last year's stepladder phase, in the opener followed by a setback to a pesky College of Saint Benilde team. The woes continued against Lyceum and Jose Rizal University in which it blew double-digit leads with some bad execution in the final two minutes.

Since then, the boys of coach Chito Victolero, who patiently waited for the squad to peak at the right time, have learned to win in the wire.

"I believe ngayon nakakaexecute na kami sa endgame dahil marami na kaming pinagdaanan na ganito," said Victolero.

As they keep catching up, the Cardinals appear to be the favorites in this wild six-team goose chase for the last Final Four berth (looks like the top three teams are Final Four shoo-ins). All teams participating in this race will likely suffer losses to heavyweights San Sebastian, San Beda and Letran.

Mapua has somehow gave those three plenty of challenges in the first round and the same could be seen when they battle these two teams again. But the crucial games will be against their fellow hunters who have struggled since the start of the second round.

St Benilde (4-7) has lost two straight no thanks to blown leads, Arellano (4-8) lacks depth while Jose Rizal University (3-8) and Emilio Aguinaldo College (3-8) are inconsistent.

Then there's Lyceum (5-5). The Pirates are still a dangerous team and they have proved critics wrong with their solid first round outing. Whether they could sustain their form with eight games left remains a question.

The biggest test for Lyceum will be tomorrow, against Mapua. Their match will likely determine the ultimate outcome of the "last semis berth."