San Beda University escaped defending champion Mapua University, 79-70, to secure back-to-back victories in the NCAA Season 101 men's basketball tournament on Friday at the Filoil Centre.
The Red Lions came out strong, building a lead as large as 19 points, 45-26, with 3:53 left in the second quarter, before heading into halftime with a 49-34 advantage.
Mapua mounted a comeback in the third quarter, outscoring San Beda 24-15 to cut the deficit to just six, 64-58.
The Cardinals, however, continued to push in the fourth, pulling within five, 73-68, with 2:17 remaining. However, the Red Lions responded with a decisive 6-0 run to pull away, 79-68, effectively sealing the win with under a minute left.
San beda head coach Yuri Escueta said they already knew that Mapua was coming in more aggressive in the second half, and the players just needed to compose themselves.
"Luckily, we had that lead coming from the first half. I just told the guys to compose themselves, don’t rush, lamang tayo nagmamadali tayo. When they started to compose themselves, shots started coming in, they started to get stops and rebounds and fastbreaks," he said.
Janti Miller led San Beda with 20 points, two rebounds, a steal, and a block, while Nygel Gonzales added 11 points as the Red Lions improved to 4-1.
Cyrus Cuenco paced Mapua with 13 points, while EJ Sapasap and Cyril Gonzales contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Cardinals dropped to 3-2 as Clint Escamis was limited to two points from free throws and went 0 out of 5 from the field.
Scores:
San Beda 79 – Miller 20, N. Gonzales 11, Puno 9, Andrada 8, Lina 8, Calimag 7, Estacio 7, Reyes 4, Etulle 2, Sajonia 2, Celzo 1, Culdora 0.
Mapua 70 – Cuenco 13, Sapasap 11, C. Gonzales 10, Delos Reyes 8, Concepcion 7, Nitura 7, Recto 6, Igliane 4, Escamis 2, Lazarte 2, Gulapa 0.
Quarters: 26-16, 49-34, 64-58, 79-70.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
