Martin San Diego | FCF

The handicapped San Sebastian College five barged in to a winning record for solo fourth place as they found a new hero in Mark Tano to defeat Arellano University, 54-49, in Monday’s NCAA seniors basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

The back-up center, who started for an ill-stricken Bradwyn Guinto, scored the last five points of the Stags and tallied 11 points, ten rebounds, and three blocks.

The sweet-shooting center mounted a two-possession lead amidst a mini-run by the Chiefs by swishing a 16-foot jumper off a drive-and-dish by Jovit de la Cruz as the Stags went up, 48-44, coming to the final two minutes.

Tano then rewarded his passer by hauling an offensive rebound off a de la Cruz miss, and converting a turnaround put-back against the defense of a cramping Prince Caperal and help defender John Pinto. His conversion put the lead back to four points, 50-46.

He then iced the game by splitting his free throws with 10.9 seconds remaining as the Stags nabbed their sixth win in 11 games.

“Coming into this game sya lang ang sentro naming so he just stepped to the challenge. You might see him to be cool but that’s his strength,” commented San Sebastian head coach Topex Robinson about his prized recruit. “The good thing about this team is that we’re not dependent on a single player… it’s an equal-opportunity team. As bad as it looks, we’re gonna take this win,” he continued.

With its eighth loss in 11 games, the Chiefs, who were led by Caperal with 15 points and 16 rebounds, drop to solo ninth place.

San Beda sweeps season series vs JRU

In the first game, San Beda College blanked Jose Rizal University in their season series, 68-54, to momentarily tie Colegio de San Juan de Letran for first place.

The Lions drew its territory in the shaded area as the undersized Bomber bigs had no answer to Ola Adeogun and Arthur de la Cruz.

Adeogun led the Lions with 20 points, ten boards, and two blocks as the defending champs converted almost half of its shots from the field.

“This game is just one game, we have like seven more games in the second round,” said Adeogun.

With the Lions’ imposing height advantage, the Bombers were reduced to an erratic shooting team, shooting only 29 per cent from the field, most of which came from the three-point line.

They were led by shooting forward Marco Balagtas with 16 points and shooting guard Philip Paniamogan with 14 points off a paltry 5-of-16 shooting from the field.

The Bombers are currently tied for fifth place in a logjam with Emilio Aguinaldo College and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.