Red Lions stretch unbeaten run, forge quarters duel with Tams

San Beda capped its strong run in the elimination round of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup with a hard-fought 75-73 win over University of Santo Tomas on Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

San Beda main men James Kwekuteye and Evan Nelle hit back-to-back triples to break the game’s final tie and give the Lions a 73-67 lead in the last 1:30 of a match where they trailed for most of the first 34 minutes.

But the Red Lions got a lift from Ralph Penuela, who hit a layup and a triple fueled a rally that gave San Beda the lead, 59-56, 6:23 to play.

The Tigers did not fold up just yet and two free throws by UST rookie Mark Nonoy squared the count at 67 with 2:13 to play. That was when Kwekuteye and Nelle hit their shots to allow San Beda to pull away for good.

Kwekuteye led the Red Lions with 21 points while Donald Tankoua had 19 points and 14 rebounds as San Beda rose to 7-0 and topped Group A.

The Red Lions forged a quarterfinal showdown with Far Eastern U, which finished fourth in Group B after a 66-53 victory over Jose Rizal University in another match.

La Salle finished second in Group A after an 84-70 rout of undermanned San Sebastian in another match.

The Green Archers led by as many as 20 points after a layup by Errol Bonggay that pegged the count at 83-63 with 1:43 to play.

Justine Baltazar led DLSU with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Aljun Melecio added 15.

Adamson secured the second seed in Group B with a 70-61 victory over National U.

Overwhelming NU in almost every department, Adamson went on to lead led by as many as 21 points, 61-40.