IT was payback time for Arellano University as it turned back Emilio Aguinaldo College, 78-70, on Monday in the 87th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan.

The Chiefs drew a game-high 23 points from Adrian Celada not only to improve to a 4-7 record, but to also avenge their 77-84 defeat to the Generals in the first round.

Celada led the Chiefs’ end-game surge, making two freebies and scoring on a jumper in the middle of an 8-0 spurt that wiped out the Generals’ 60-58 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Ahead 66-60, the Chiefs then denied the Generals any chance for a comeback by scoring 14 straight free throws.

Mark Doligon and Vergel Zulueta added 14 points apiece for Arellano.

“May utang sa amin ang EAC. Naagawan kami ng isang panalo sa first round. Nag-collapse kami at bumigay sa endgame nung una. So, ni-remind ko sa mga players na mayroon kaming dapat bawiin,” said Arellano University coach Leo Isaac.

Isaac will miss the Chiefs’ next two games as he left for the United States last night to observe the basketball program of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and to scout prospective recruits in a two-day Filipino-American tournament to be held in Houston, Texas.

The Generals, who fell to 3-8, badly missed Filipino-American big man Joshua Torralba, who sat out the match because of a hamstring injury.

Remy Morada and Jan Jamon had 28 and 11 points for the Generals, but were limited to four and two points in the last period.

In the juniors division, Nelson Mendoza scored 28 points to lead EAC, which outplayed Arellano, 63-57, to catch up with La Salle Greenhills at third spot at 8-3.