Raffy Dela Peña | FCF
In a battle for pride and the number one seeding entering the Final Four, San Beda College needed an extra session to scalp their rivals in the biggest game of the second round.
Escaping with a 76-72 win on Monday night at The Arena in San Juan City, the Red Lions are a win away from clinching the number one seed entering the NCAA Season 89 seniors basketball Final Four round.
Ola Adeogun produced a monster game of 26 points with a tournament-high 26 rebounds and three blocks, outdueling pro-bound counterpart Raymond Almazan, who finished with just 13 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks.
Exasperated after the win, the Nigerian big man immediately remarked “Seriously? I can’t believe these stats!” when he saw his monstrous statline during the post-game interview.
But as soon as the surprise wore off, he noted that his performance was a stroke of luck.
“Chamba lang ito (It was just pure luck). (Coach) just asked me to play hard,” said Adeogun. “We just focused on defense, the offense just kept coming.”
After the break, San Beda was able to inflate their lead to as much as 13 points, but their rivals from Muralla put up an 18-2 surge highlighted by back-to-back dunks from Raymond Almazan to build a seven point lead at the end of three, 43-36.
But Coach Boyet Fernandez pulled out a highly unlikely wildcard in the form of ex-DLSU Green Archer Dan Sara to bring stability to the point guard spot and aid the Red Lions in fighting back from the Knights’ sizeable lead.
“My point guards have been messing up in the third quarter, so Dan Sara really stepped up this game,” recalled the first year San Beda head coach to Fullcourtfresh.com. “(Sara) played defense, he played offense, executed, and controlled the ballgame for us in the fourth quarter.”
Despite Amer hitting clutch baskets to create a four-point cushion from their Muralla-based rivals, Mark Cruz connected on a three-point play with 31 seconds left, then followed by Almazan’s split at the foul line with 5.9 ticks on the clock to send the game to an extra session.
In the extra session, both teams exchanged baskets until Adeogun swatted away Almazan’s hook shot attempt, leading to an Art Dela Cruz basket with under a minute left to put the Red Lions up for good, 74-72.
Backing up Ola’s efforts in scoring were Rome De La Rosa and Amer, who turned in 13 and 12 points respectively.
Mark Cruz led the Knights with 25 points, but jacked up a sour 9-for-25 clip from the field to achieve his scoring output in the loss.
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