League original San Beda upbeat on title defense as Centennial NCAA kicks off

As the NCAA celebrated its 100th season, the only team in the field that has been present right from the start made its intentions clear.

San Beda’s Red Lions are out to take on all comers eager to take its title away.

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The league original opened its title defense with a 79-63 victory over Lyceum on Saturday, looking quite as good as it did last year despite the absence of Jacob Cortez, the starting playmaker who transferred to La Salle in the UAAP.

“I’m very confident with these guys coming in. I know what they can do and bring to the team and it’s just a matter of letting them play their games,” said coach Yuri Escueta.

“I credit it to our preparations that we had during the preseason. There’s still lots of room for improvement because it’s the first game, everyone had jitters but hopefully everyone will eventually calm down and be composed.”

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The Red Lions were one of the original teams that played when the NCAA opened shop in 1924, along with now UAAP stalwarts La Salle, Ateneo, University of the Philippines, National U and Santo Tomas.

Perfect replacement

And after a dazzling opening ceremony that raised the curtain on the league’s centennial season, the Red Lions immediately went to work, opening a 29-11 lead that was never threatened the rest of the way.

San Beda seemed to have found a perfect replacement for the crafty Cortez in rookie Bryan Sajonia, a transferee from Far Eastern University.

“Bryan easily fits with our lineup because of his talents, skill level and tenacious defense,” Escueta said.

Sajonia led the Red Lions with 18 points, five rebounds and two assists while holdover Yukien Andrada also proved his mettle anew with 13 points and six rebounds for the Red Lions.

“I just listened to coach Yuri but I really didn’t care how much I was scoring,” Sajonia said. “All my teammates are capable of scoring anyway.”

“But this helps build confidence going into our coming games and [I’m thankful] for the trust of the coaches and teammates.”

McLaude Guadaña dropped a career-high 22 points for the Pirates.

The Red Lions will continue their title defense on Tuesday, when they face St. Benilde on Tuesday at San Juan Arena.

And Sajonia feels the team can be better against the Blazers.

“We’re not done yet,” Sajonia said. “We still have a lot to fix, which coach Yuri and the players will do. The chemistry is there, but we still lack some things.”

Escueta agreed.

“There were still a lot of lapses and things we could have done better in today’s game,” he said. “But like I told the players as long as we improve even by one percent at a time … that’s okay for me. I just don’t like to see us regressing.”

@MeloFuertesINQ

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