San Beda weathered San Sebastian’s fourth quarter comeback as it pulled off an 86-79 victory to stay at the helm in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.
Baser Amer took charge in the fourth quarter as he poured in seven of his 15 points while playing facilitator by dishing some of his game-high 10 assists in the period as the five-peat seeking Lions survived a late fightback by the Stags in snaring a league-best 9-2 (won-lost) record.
“We didn’t play with enough intensity in the fourth quarter, good thing Baser (Amer) was there,” said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez.
Nigerian Ola Adeogun bulldozed his way to team-highs 18 points and 15 rebounds while Arthur dela Cruz scattered 14 points including six in the final canto.
A day after getting picked 24th by expansion team KIA Motors in Sunday’s PBA rookie draft, Kyle Pascual played inspired ball and finished with 12 points, nine boards and two steals.
Pascual was one of the players from the current San Beda roster that was drafted including the Semerad twins, Anthony and David, who were tabbed seventh overall by San Mig Coffee and 10th by Barako Bull, respectively.
The Semerads though didn’t play as well as Pascual, as Anthony managed eight points while David ending up zero. Fernandez congratulated them though.
“I’m really proud of my guys. It goes to show that San Beda is one of the best basketball programs in the country today,” he said.
Bradwyn Guinto and CJ Perez carried the fight for the Stags by churning out 29 and 23 points, but had no answer to the Lions’ balanced attack and fell to an eighth defeat against three wins.
In the second game, Arellano University had to contend with a late-game comeback attempt by cellar-dwelling Mapua Institute of Technology to escape with an 82-79 win.
CJ Isit and Andoy Estrella late the comeback attempt by the Cardinals, resulting in a 14-6 run that kept them within one point, 79-80, of the co-league leader.
But Jiovani Jalalon knocked down two crucial free throws off Estrella’s fourth personal foul with 4.4 ticks left to give the Chiefs enough cushion to steal the win.
John Pinto topped all scorers with 25 points on 11-for-18 shooting, while Isit and Estrella scattered 21 and 19 markers, respectively, for Mapua.
