San Sebastian’s Mark De Leon.–NCAA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—San Sebastian hardly broke a sweat in its 111-86 win over Arellano in the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball tournament at San Juan Arena on Saturday.
After absorbing a tough loss against Mapua a few days ago, the Golden Stags made sure not to have a repeat of their season opener.
Coach John Kallos admitted that there was a huge change felt when his wards, who improved to 1-1 in the season, bought into the type of system that he wanted for the team.
“This is our system here, to run the ball, shoot early, run the fastbreak and pressure the ball. In our first game, they [players] doubted what we were doing so I said, ‘if we have doubts, we’ll really have a hard time,’” he said.
“I asked them to just trust the system, trust their teammates and everything will fall into place.”
And fall into place, it did, for San Sebastian.
The Stags shot 53 percent from the field and outscored the Chiefs, 52-35, on bench points.
San Sebastian also dominated Arellano in the rebounding department, 51-32.
Six players scored in double digits for San Sebastian, led by Mark De Leon’s 16 points. Raymart Escobido posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Three other Stags finished double-figures. Rafael Are had 15 while Jessie Sumoda, and Romel Calahat tallied 14 and 12, respectively.
Lorenz Capulong led the way for Arellano, which dropped to 0-2., with 21 points. Jerico Camay and Danielle Mallari added 15 and 13 points, respectively.