San Beda clinches Final 4 berth, edges JRU

Davon Potts. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

San Beda officially clinched a seat in the Final Four after outlasting Jose Rizal University, 65-60, in the NCAA Season 93 men’s basketball tournament Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Javee Mocon unfurled 19 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists to help the Red Lions make it to the postseason for the 12th straight year.

Cameroonian big man Donald Tankoua also registered a double-double of 14 markers and 13 boards to keep his side rolling at 12-1 on an 11-game winning streak.

Davon Potts also went 4-of-8 from three to wound up with 14 points, eight of which coming in the payoff period, including the back-to-back triples to put San Beda ahead 62-57 with 3:14 left to play.

But coach Boyet Fernandez said that there’s still a lot left to be desired with the way the Red Lions played this game.

“It’s really our defense that really helped us win this game,” he said, after San Beda lost hold of its early 18-point lead, 28-10 in the second quarter. “The worst thing that could happen is we gave up 27 points in the third quarter, which is not our usual self. We also turned the ball over 25 times, we’re consistent at that. So we have to learn how to take good care of the basketball for us to be consistent in our ballgames.”

Fernandez, though, took responsibility for the Red Lions’ lackluster play in the second half.

“Frankly, if we lost this game, the blame is on me. Credit to coach Vergel Meneses and JRU for playing a good game. But luckily, we played good defense that resulted to clutch shots for Javee and Davon.”

San Beda’s win also handed league leader Lyceum a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.

The Heavy Bombers still had a chance to close in, trailing by only four, 64-60, after an Ervin Grospe jumper in the final minute, but Aaron Bordon turned the ball over as he was passing to Abdulwahab Abdulrazak which led to a split from the stripe from Tankoua to ice the game in the last 11.6 seconds.

Jed Mendoza paced JRU with 16 points and three rebounds, while Abdulrazak had 11 markers and nine boards.

The Heavy Bombers, though, suffered their third loss in four games and fadl to 7-6.

The Scores:

SAN BEDA 65 – Mocon 19, Tankoua 14, Potts 14, Abuda 4, Bolick 3, Soberano 3, Doliguez 2, Bahio 2, Cabanag 2, Oftana 2, Presbitero 0, Adamos 0, Carino 0, Tongco 0, Noah 0.

JRU 60 – Mendoza 16, Abdul Razak 11, Bordon 9, David 7, Grospe 6, Teodoro 6, Poutouochi 5, Lasquety 0, Dela Virgen 0, Sawat 0.

Quarters: 17-10, 31-19, 45-46, 65-60.