Art Dela Cruz Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
San Beda stood strong against a rabid Jose Rizal University, 81-77, Friday to advance to the finals of the Filoil Flying V Hanes Preseason Premier Cup at San Juan Arena.
Sitting comfortably on a 14-point lead, 70-56, early in the fourth, the Red Lions were poised to cruise to the finals and set up a match against defending champions De La Salle but the Heavy Bombers wanted to add a little drama in their semifinals game.
JRU staged an 18-5 bombing raid with Teytey Teodoro hitting back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to 75-74 with 1:54 left in the game.
Art Dela Cruz, however, weathered the storm for San Beda, albeit a miss from the free throw lane, as his play down the stretch gave the Red Lions an 80-77 lead with 11 seconds left.
Red Lions head coach Jamike Jarin commended his coaching staff and players for juggling two tournaments in the summer and maintaining the level of play needed to win the game.
“I’m proud of my coaching staff and my players, we’re juggling two tournaments,” Jarin said as some of his players are playing in the PBA D-League. “It shows we have a pretty deep bench going to the NCAA.”
Teodoro had a chance to tie the match at 80, but his off-balanced three was too short and it went out of bounds with 6.7 seconds remaining.
Dela Cruz led San Beda with 22 points, on an impressive 9-of-12 shooting, and eight rebounds while Ranbill Tongco had 13 points.
Paolo Pontejos and Teodoro combined for 42 points to lead the Heavy Bombers.