NCAA: Red Lions ward off Blazers to open 2nd round

San Beda’s Dan Sara. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

San Beda needed to get more from its players than expected to fend off a hard-fighting College of St. Benilde side, 82-64, at the start of the second round of eliminations in the NCAA Season 92 men’s basketball tournament Tuesday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

In a duel between two teams in the opposite end of the standings, the league-leading Red Lions got more than what they’ve bargained for as the Blazers got off to a surprise start before fading in the second half.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” said San Beda head coach Jamike Jarin, whose squad found a perfect opponent in winless CSB coming off its first loss of the season last week.

“We can’t also take away credit from Benilde in the first half. We had to dig deep and take it to another gear to win,” Jarin added after San Beda redeemed itself from a 79-73 loss to Jose Rizal University with its 10th win.

St. Benilde played with a sense of desperation the way a team that dropped all of its nine games in the first round.

But the Blazers couldn’t sustain their form in the last two quarters as the Lions were just too much on both ends of the floor with import Donald Tankoua and Fil-American guard Davon Potts leading the way.

Tankoua posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds that went with two blocks while Potts added 15 points and five rebounds.

Christian Fajarito also had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who even took a 20-14 edge after the opening quarter and managed to keep it close at the half.