San Beda outclasses Arellano to stay on top with 6-0 card

San Beda’s Donald Tankoua. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

San Beda continued to reign over NCAA Season 92 men’s basketball tournament, this time turning back Arellano, 101-86, Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

In what could be seen as an early finals preview, the Red Lions had to battle back from a deficit as big as 22, 36-14, early against the Chiefs before regaining the advantage in the fourth quarter thanks to the leadership of Davon Potts and Donald Tankoua.

Potts poured 11 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter pullaway, shooting 12-of-18 from the field while Tankoua dropped 15 of his 28 points in the third frame and registered 14 rebounds and two blocks.

“Everytime you’re down, you have to dig deep,” said coach Jamike Jarin to keep San Beda at the top with a 6-0 record.

“At the start of the game, I talked about how things should be done, talking about trust and heart. That was the gameplan. If I told you to go on top of the building and I told you to jump, would you jump?
Everybody said they will jump, and the reason why they are going to jump because I will be the first to jump and I’ll be there to catch them. If I don’t catch them, that means I already taught them how to fly.
That’s how we trust everyone.”

Tankoua brought San Beda back in the game, leading the 35-point third quarter fightback to tie the count at 72 that set up the nip-and-tuck payoff period.

Tides turned at the 7:06 mark of the fourth after Lervin Flores was whistled for a technical, which led to Potts catching fire and kickstarting the late game pullaway for the Red Lions. Arnaud Noah punctuated the win with a slam with 17.8 seconds left.

Jiovani Jalalon topped Arellano (3-2) with 25 points, four rebounds, and four assists, while Kent Salado got 16 markers, five boards, and three dimes.

The Scores:

SAN BEDA 101 – Potts 31, Tankoua 28, Tongco 12, Noah 8, Presbitero 6, Soberano 6, Bolick 5, Sara 3, Mocon 1, Oftana 1, Alas 0, Carlos 0, Navarro 0.
ARELLANO 86 – Jalalon 25, Salado 16, Enriquez 12, Flores 10, Meca 7, Cadavis 6, Holts 4, Aguilar 3, Gumaru 3, Canete 0, Nicholls 0, Villoria 0.

Quarters: 10-19, 37-47, 72-72, 101-86.