San Beda coach Yuri Escueta urges his players to keep their guards up against San Sebastian. –NCAA Photo
MANILA, Philippines— San Beda has found its way into the second seed after a three-game winning streak in the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball tournament.
The Red Lions’ most recent victory over San Sebastian successfully pushed them behind leader Mapua (7-1) in the ladder with a 6-2 record.
This, however, is nothing to be celebrated for now, according to coach Yuri Escueta.
“Of course, it’s nice that we can get a string of wins but again, this is still long, there’s still the second round. The wins we got against Perpetual Help, JRU and CSB were tough, they could’ve gone either way,” said Escueta after their 76-53 win against the Golden Stags at San Juan Arena on Friday.
“Our goal as a team is to get better every day as individuals and together. Here in the NCAA, you can’t relax. Any team here can beat you.”
The Red Lions expected a close fight against a San Sebastian team that had a lowly 3-5 record prior to Friday’s match.
It was Jomel Puno who spearheaded San Beda to the victory with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jacob Cortez, the third-leading scorer of the league, also helped the Red Lions trample the Golden Stags with 10 markers.
CONSISTENCY, NOT COMPLACENCY
San Beda’s Jomel Puno soars over the San Sebastian defense for a bucket.-NCAA Photo
While Escueta stressed that the team shouldn’t be complacent, he also urged his wards to be more consistent heading to the tourney’s second round.
The TNT assistant coach’s concern stemmed from the Red Lions’ attitude in starting the game flat and only going full throttle in the final minutes of the game– trend he’s seen in recent San Beda games.
“We want to be more consistent with our defense from start to finish. We always start shaky so if our first group has a good start, our second group needs to complement it. We can’t dip. That’s been the problem in our games.”
That same problem showed up on Friday’s game when they trailed by three after the opening quarter, 17-14.
Fortunately, the Mendiola squad’s second unit stepped up for 31 bench points while also hounding San Sebastian on defense in the third quarter, limiting the opposition to just eight points in the penultimate period.
San Beda will officially end its first round on Sunday when it faces Emilio Aguinaldo College, which stunned College of St. Benilde earlier in the day.