MANILA, Philippines—When the game is on the line, expect the ball to be in the hands of Garvo Lanete.
Lanete, calm and collected in pressure-packed situations, came through at the most opportune times this week for the Red Lions, who rose to the top of final four—something they have done for the past five years—by overcoming rival San Sebastian.
“It was a tough game for us, but we had another big night from Garvo again,” said San Beda head coach Frankie Lim of his star guard following tight 88-85 victory of the Stags Friday.
With the Red Lions is danger, Lanete uncorked back-to-back triples with flair in the last minute which capped off a spectacular fourth quarter display where he scattered 11 of his total output.
“Our play was executed perfectly, it was a matter of Garvo [Lanete] making the shot—and he did,” Lim added.
He finished with 27 points on top of five boards as his performance earned him the Inquirer Sports top performing athlete of the week from Oct. 9 to Oct. 15, edging 2011 LBC Ronda Pilipinas grand champion and veteran cyclist Santi Barnachea for the weekly citation.
Lanete was also on top of the score sheet, with 17 points –15 coming in the first half- in San Beda’s 91-70 triumph Wednesday over San Sebastian which forged a playoff for the top spot.
But it wasn’t only in the past two games that Lanete rose as he has always been San Beda’s steadiest scoring option in the absence of former MVP Sudan Daniel.
Consistency is what Lim draws nightly from Lanete, who could not only easily churn out 20 points per game but also provides solid leadership to a potent group.
When San Beda snared the twice-to-beat incentive at the expense of nemesis Letran last Oct. 7, Lanete also sizzled with a game-high 28 points even with the second stringers already doing damage.
As the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament draws to its homestretch, expect Lanete to flaunt his lethal ways.