Back-to-back title-seeking San Beda bucked a slow, faulty start with a smashing finish as it steamrolled a helpless Arellano U, 92-67, to join San Sebastian and Letran atop the heap in the 87th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.
All the Lions needed was to break out of a first quarter stupor by unleashing runs anchored on playing a full-court trapping defense to nail their third straight victory for a share of the lead.
“We’re a bit scrappy in the first quarter but our full-court defense was very valuable,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim.
Garvo Lanete led all scorers with 17 points, Anjo Caram came off the bench to pour in 15 points, including 11 in the third quarter when the Lions made a big charge Kyle and Jake Pascual chipped in 13 and 11 points, respectively.
It was also San Beda’s sixth straight victory in as many outings against Arellano U.
Rookie Baser Amer, a former high school phenom who led the Red Cubs to back-to-back NCAA championships, showed some significant improvement as he came through with a solid, all-around game with six points, eight boards and five assists.
“He’s improving but he showed some brilliant moves,” said Lim.
Earlier, Lyceum leaned on the clutch shooting of second stringer Floricel Guevarra and another double-double effort from Allan Santos as it humbled Intramuros neighbor and a heavily favored Mapua side, 76-73, to regain its winning ways.
Coming off the bench, Guevarra fired his season-high 23 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter when the Pirates unleashed a game-changing run while the 6-4 Santos had 15 points and 13 rebounds to register his fifth straight double-double performance – a season best – to nail their third win in five outings.
“I’m very happy to get some big scoring contribution from my bench,” said Lyceum mentor Boni Tan in Filipino.
The Cardinals couldn’t live up to their strong pre-season billing and remained winless in three straight games while the Chiefs absorbed their third setback against a victory.
Promising Fil-Palestinian rookie Yousef Taha returned from a one-game suspension he incurred during a ball-throwing incident involving Leran’s Kevin Alas by contributing 11 points and six caroms but he too was helpless against the Pirates’ late surge.
(source: Phil star)
