San Beda keeps pristine record after surviving gutsy Mapua

MANILA, Philippines–Pushed to the hilt, San Beda outlasted a gutsy Mapua, 74-68, to extend its historic streak in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Friday.

Dave Marcelo rose to the occasion by gunning down a huge jumper off a broken play with 27.2 seconds that sealed the Red Lions’ seventh win sans a loss in season 87.

Down by two, Marcelo caught a timely pass from the seasoned scorer Garvo Lanete who slipped just as he was positioning himself for the shot then shook off his defender for the basket.

Marcelo finished with 13 points while Lanete exploded for 18 points for San Beda in the second game at the Arena in San Juan..

“It’s about time [Dave Marcelo] played a big game. He battled and worked hard for it,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim.

Red Lions clearly aren’t the same team without former MVP Sudan Daniel, though, as they were painfully outrebounded by the lengthy Cardinals, 32-54.

“It wasn’t easy for us,” said Lim. “When you don’t have Sudan, you’ll have to make wins like that [even if it’s ugly.]”

Huffing, puffing and trailing for most of the first half, the Red Lions retaliated with a tremendous third quarter spurt to regain control of the game.

But even as they pushed the advantage to 61-47 at the start of the fourth, Mapua nonetheless flirted with busting the historic 25-game winning streak since season 86.

Allan Mangahas engaged in a virtual shootout with the equally blistering Lanete and put the Cardinals to within two, 70-68, with under a minute to play.

But Mangahas’ swishing teardrop with 47.2 ticks was the last the Cardinals, who reeled to their fifth loss with two wins, would score.

Mangahas scored 25 points with 11 coming from the fourth quarter, while Mapua’s bigs Mark Sarangay, Michael Parala and Yousef Taha combined for 26 markers.

“Mapua scouted us well and played well. It wasn’t easy for us,” added Lim.

Although the Cardinals had a huge edge in the boards, they turned the ball over twice as much as the Red Lions.