San Beda leaned on Nigerian Ola Adeogun as it hammered out a vengeful 78-54 victory on Saturday to grab the solo lead in the 90th NCAA basektball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.
Adeogun was bullstrong the whole game as he came through with his season-high 28 points he spiked with 16 rebounds and two blocks to power the Lions to their 10th win against two losses, which send them to the top while leaving the Arellano Chiefs at No. 2 with a 9-2 (win-loss) slate.
"Ola is a source of inside strength," said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez.
The Lions also went to their league-best defense in getting back at the Blazers, who stunned the former, 83-78, in their first round encounter on July 28.
After allowing St. Benilde to explode with 83, San Beda held it to just 54 this time while containing Mark Romero to just five points after he erupted with 20 the first time they faced off.
"We knew for us to beat them, we need to play defense. Good thing we did today (yesterday)," said Fernandez.
While Adeogun got almost everything done, Baser Amer did the rest by scattering 13 points including eight in the final period to help douse cold water to the Blazers' late comeback.
Von Adam Abatayo made the most out of his limited minutes as he nailed all his three shots from beyond the arc as the Lions torched the Blazers with 10 triples.
St. Benilde fell from a three-way logjam at No. 3 with Perpetual Help and Jose Rizal to fifth spot with a 7-5 card. — Photo by KC Cruz.
The scores:
San Beda (78) -- Adeogun 28, Amer 13, Koga 9, Abatayo 9, Dela Cruz 6, Sara 5, Mendoza 4, A. Semerad 2, Mocon 2, D. Semerad 0, Pascual 0.
CSB (54) -- Taha 12, Grey 10, Saavedra 9, Sinco 7, Bartolo 6, Romero 5, Nayve 3, Ongteco 2, Jonson 0, Pajarillaga 0, Altamirano 0.
Quarters: 9-16, 26-21, 53-34, 78-54.
