MANILA, Philippines — Baser Amer led San Beda’s fourth-quarter charge en route to a convincing 67-54 win over Arellano Thursday in the NCAA season 89 seniors basketball competition.
Amer came out like the star guard that he is for the Red Lions, unleashing 10 straight points bridging the third and fourth quarters to create the separation they needed from the Chiefs.
“Baser [Amer] came back from a bad loss to Lyceum and stabilized this team,” said head coach Boyet Fernandez.
Arellano even tied the game at 41 on a steal and slam by James Forrester late in the third, but the Red Lions — led by Amer — stepped on the pedal and never looked back.
Midway into the payoff period, the lead has ballooned to 12 at 59-47, with the senior guard scoring all but two points. Amer finished with 12.
The Red Lions are coming off a 10-day layoff after a 66-70 setback to the Pirates last June 24.
That break seemed to have worked wonders for San Beda especially to Nigerian center Ola Adeogun, who showed his real strength on Thursday.
Adeogun finished with 18 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks for the Red Lions.
“It gave us time to rest. Weeks going into the opening, there was a lot going on, and it was the opening of the classes,” said Fernandez. “They got tired.”
It was also a statement game of sort for San Beda, which bowed to Arellano — deemed serious contenders this year — in the pre-season league.
“We lost one point to them in the Filoil and I told the boys it’s time to get back at them and show them what San Beda is all about,” Fernandez said.
Only one player wound up in double digits for the Chiefs with Forrester scoring with 15. John Pinto, who was a revelation in the pre-season, only had four points on 2-of-11 shooting.
No one from their side, though, even notched half of Adeogun’s total rebounds as Arellano was sorely outrebounded, 33-54.