Arellano University end their back-to-back losing funk at the expense of Jose Rizal University (JRU), 75-69, in Friday’s National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 90 seniors basketball at The Arena in San Juan City.

Tinkering with a defense-oriented rotation, coach Jerry Codinera effectively steered Arellano’s charge as the Chiefs committed three turnovers in the last two minutes.

It started when pro-bound point guard John Pinto, who came off the bench and played only 14 minutes, buried a tough trey from the left corner with 2:50 left in the final canto to extend their lead to four, 73-69.

Then, JRU team captain Michael Mabulac committed an offensive foul, overdoing a seal against Pinto’s defense.

JRU’s woes were compounded when center Abdul Wahab Abdul Razak missed crucial freebies that would have cut down their deficit.

Arellano made good defensive stops as Pinto stole a bullet pass from Mabulac while seldom-used guard David Ortega hustled for the offensive board off a miss from Jiovani Jalalon to preserve their lead.

Rookie guard Teytey Teodoro attempted a desperation trey with less four seconds left Jalalon swatted away his shot and drew an offensive foul off Teodoro’s follow through kick in the process.

“We tried to analyze our performance during the first round and we’ve found out that it’s all offense. We simply tried to outscore the other team at the expense of our defense,” Codinera said.

“(JRU’s) three pointers are like layups. We have to respect their shooters,” he added.

Indeed, the new defense-oriented rotation worked wonders for Codinera

The backcourt tandem of Ortega and Donald Gumaru played 23 minutes each in contrast to the usual starting backcourt of Jalalon and Pinto, who played 14 minutes each. Meanwhile, starting small forward Keith Agovida played only 11 minutes in the game.

The Ortega-Gumaru backcourt made mincemeat of JRU’s hot shooting backcourt. While top scorer Philip Paniamogan strutted 20 points, he committed eight turnovers while Teodoro, a rookie known for his veteran-like smarts, was denied the open shot in the last seconds.

Leading the charge for Arellano was American power forward Dioncee Holts with 22 points (9/13 field goals), 13 rebounds, and one blocked shot. He and frontcourt buddy Prince Caperal sustained the Chiefs’ offense as Holts thrived on open inside stabs while Caperal swished jumpers after jumpers in the first half.

Arellano U regains sole possession of second place with a 10-4 mark, while sending JRU (9-5) to their second defeat in the second round and is half-a-game ahead from College of Saint Benilde.

Paniamogan launched 20 markers on six-for-nine shooting, followed by Jaycee Asuncion’s 14 and Teodoro’s 13.

Box scores:

Arellano 75 – Holts 22, Caperal 10, Enriquez 7, Hernandez 7, Jalalon 6, Pinto 6, Ortega 5, Bangga 4, Gumaru 2, Ciriacruz 2, Agovida 2, Nicholls 2

JRU 69 – Paniamogan 20, Asuncion 14, Teodoro 13, Abdul Wahab 7, Sanchez 7, Mabulac 4, Balagtas 4, Munez 0, Salaveria 0, Benavides 0, Lasquety 0, Grospe 0

Quarter scores: 20-16, 39-35, 56-51, 75-69