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San Beda blasts Letran to secure NCAA semis incentive
Chants of "Animo San Beda, Beat Baste (San Sebastian College)!" echoed in the San Beda gallery with still one minute left in the game. It wasn't a good sign for Letran, since the the match wasn't even close. The Red Lions secured the second twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four with an 84-68 trouncing of the Knights Friday in the 87th NCAA men's basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City. The win is a big boost to the Frankie Lim-coached squad as they prepare for their final elimination round match against the Golden Stags next week. "It's all about winning games," said San Beda coach Frankie Lim. The Red Lions, knowing the consequence of the result of the game would drop them to third, played all out in order to clinch the semifinals incentive. The Red Lions (15-2) will face league leader San Sebastian (16-1) on Wednesday in hopes of forcing a playoff for the number one spot in the Final Four. "It's a very emotional game for us. This is the first time I got tired this season. But we just needed the game badly. We just wanted to beat Letran and stay in second and get the twice-to-beat advantage," said Lim. Garvo Lanete had 28 points while Anthony Semerad, back in his second game after being sidelined with a calf injury, produced 16 points leading the Red Lions' bench production. "My bigs were in foul trouble seventy percent of the time so I relied on my guys off the bench. Those guys contributed a lot. I felt that if they failed to sustain our game, we could have lost the game," said Lim. The Knights finished their eliminations with a 14-4 record and will face San Beda in the Final Four if the Red Lions bow to the Stags on Wednesday. Semerad, his twin brother David and Baser Amer led San Beda's attack in the second period with nine unanswered points, 26-14, and the Red Lions only trailed by single digits twice after that. Some Letran fans pelted debris on the court at the seven-minute mark of the game in frustration of the referee's call with San Beda up, 71-54. The momentary lull somewhat helped as it stopped San Beda's momentum and Letran cut the deficit to 10 points, 71-61. But an Anthony Semerad three-pointer plus three free throws pushed the lead back to 16 points. Amer and David Semerad had eight points each off the bench for San Beda. Kevin Alas failed to duplicate his 22-point performance against San Sebastian last week and finished only with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. Jam Cortes and Mark Cruz added 13 and 11 markers each. — JVP, GMA News
