MANILA, Philippines – Garvo Lanete swished a triple with 18.3 ticks left to finally give San Beda the top spot after edging San Sebastian, 88-85, in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Lanete, who pumped in 15 of his game-high 27 points from downtown, came off the screen before drilling the go-ahead triple from the right elbow that gave the Red Lions an 87-85 spread.
Anthony Semerad made one-of-two free throws to set the final count as Stags’ forward Calvin Abueva misfired a potential game-tying three as time expired.
The Final Four kicks off on Monday with San Beda facing No.4 seed Jose Rizal University, which ended its elimination round with a six-game winning streak.
San Sebastian and No. 3 Letran battle it out in the main game at 4 p.m.
Abueva notched another double-double with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
The top MVP candidate Abueva made both freebies that gave the Stags an 85-84 buffer with 32.3 seconds remaining before Lanete stole the show by nailing the cold-blooded trey.
The San Beda skipper went five-of-nine from downtown.