Games Friday (The Arena, San Juan)
10 a.m. – Perpetual vs Arellano (Jrs)
11:45 a.m. – Letran vs San Sebastian (Jrs)
2 p.m. – Perpetual vs Arellano (Srs)
4 p.m. – Letran vs San Sebastian (Srs)

Jose Rizal University took Angeles University Foundation lightly on Wednesday and nearly paid for it.

Facing the prospect of losing to the cellar-dwellers, the Bombers went to John Wilson at crunch time to escape with an 85-81 win over the surprisingly stubborn AUF squad in the NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.

Showing why he’s one of the league’s clutch players, Wilson hit two pressure-packed free throws with 3.8 ticks left to finally take the fight out of the Great Danes and complete their comeback from a 13-point deficit.

With the win, their 14th in 16 starts, the Bombers moved within two victories of claiming a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.

Three-time defending champion San Beda College kept abreast with the Bombers by turning back College of St. Benilde, 66-54.

Sudan Daniel dished out a double-double performance with 19 points and 12 rebounds to help the Red Lions beat the Blazers for the second time this conference despite missing the services of center JR Taganas (head injury) and forward Bam Gamalinda (Hamstring).

Wilson finished with only 12 points but his gutsy performance in the fourth quarter boosted his bid to win this year’s MVP plum.

JRU mentor Ariel Vanguardia was clearly disappointed with their win, saying: “An ugly win. This just proves that we cannot rely on defense and offense alone to win. Luckily we have enough cushion to win.”

Unlike in their 77-64 win over the defending champion San Beda last week, the Bombers looked out of sync, giving the Danes several chances to steal the win.

The Danes threatened to turn the table, 81-83, after uncorking an 8-3 salvo which was capped by Limmuel Manarang's triple with 4.9 ticks left.

But the Bombers remained unfazed as Wilson made the all-important free throws.