San Beda College had a tough time against a shorthanded and wounded Lyceum of the Philippines University before pulling away with a 76-60 victory in Wednesday’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 90 seniors hoops at The Arena in San Juan City.
The Red Lions, which claimed the first seat in the Final Four with a league-best 13-2 mark, were led by Arthur de la Cruz’s 18 points and seven rebounds and PBA-bound Fil-Aussie swingman Anthony Semerad’s 13 points.
Following a chippy second quarter where San Beda’s big men tandem of Ola Adeogun and Kyle Pascual caught respective unsportsmanlike fouls, the Red Lions pushed their lead to 20, 57-37, thanks to Pascual’s three-point play at the 1:50 mark of the third quarter.
“We’re happy with this win. But we are just lucky that LPU played badly. We are just lucky to win this one. But our goal is to make it to the top two teams, play consistently and eventually giving the team the five-peat,” said San Beda Head Coach Boyet Fernandez.
In the second period, Rhoel Maconocido’s face turned crimson after a wayward elbow by Adeogun hit the former’s right eyebrow. Moments later, the Nigerian center was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul, then was slapped for a technical foul for excessive complaining.
Pascual drew their second unsportsmanlike foul of the quarter barely two minutes after, shackling the Red Lions’ frontline in the process.
“I’m not a guy who always complains…but hopefully, the commissioner would see the right thing and let us know. Ang hirap, bugbog-sarado kami. All of my big men are in foul trouble. We were in penalty most of the time because we were in foul trouble,” Fernandez added.
We’re trying to play honest-to-goodness defense, we’ve been doing it in practice. We put emphasis on one-on-one defense in practice, but we still get called for fouls.”
Losing Coach Bonnie Tan later lamented losing golden opportunities because of missed free throws, including three out of six free throws off the Adeogun and Pascual fouls late in the second period and the game within reach.
“We shot nine out of 21 free throws, less than 50 percent. That’s a no-no against a good basketball team. So we cannot expect a win against a Class-A team if we’re converting less than 50 percent from the foul line. Malayo ang chances namin na manalo doon,” said Tan.
The veteran LPU mentor also noted that his squad, who had to play mostly rookies and sophomores in his rotation due to injuries to guards Dexter Zamora (right ankle) and Shane Ko (viral infection), managed to keep in check against the dominant Red Lions.
“Out of 28 three-pointers, we only made three. Sobrang baba ng percentage namin. Hindi kami suwerte. Pero ang effort ng players for a rookie team wasn’t bad. Sabi ko sa kanila na sila rin ang magdadala ng team eventually,” he added.
Joseph Gabayni carried the scoring cudgels, putting up 22 points along with eight boards, as the rest of the LPU five failed to support their rookie center on the offensive end.
Arellano routs EAC, keeps in check with league-leading Red Lions
In the second game, Arellano University went ballistic on the offensive end as they rout Emilio Aguinaldo College, 105-88, to notch its eleventh win and create a significant gap ahead of joint third-placers Jose Rizal University and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
Pro-bound center Prince Caperal paced his team in the opener, scoring on jumpers and fastbreak layups as the Chiefs went running from the get go, wowing the defense of the Generals, who started inexperienced point guard Christ Mejos over Joko Tayongtong.
“We just run and run, not much set plays, because our running game is our offense. We just need to step up on defense and the offense will follow,” Caperal, who topscored for his team with 18 points, said after the game.
Allen Enriquez, Zach Nicholls, Dioncee Holts, and Keith Agovida likewise all scored in double digits for Arellano’s cause.
“We started good on defense, then the bench came and our game rolled,” said Arellano head coach Jerry Codinera.
The Chiefs are currently at 11-4, one game ahead of both the Heavy Bombers and the Blazers, both sporting 9-5 records.
“We just play one game at a time. We just need to play good defense and not underestimate our opponents,” Codinera said when asked about their looming Final Four entry.
The Generals were led by their lone bright spot Tayongtong, who played a perfect game of 25 points off a 10-for-10 shooting clip from the field. They drop to 3-12 and are stuck in last place with with the reeling San Sebastian College.
