Amer dishes 16 assists as San Beda crushes Lyceum in NCAA 88

MANILA, Philippines – San Beda watched as fierce rival San Sebastian got upset by Emilio Aguinaldo College in the opening game.

And with how the top teams are neck-and-neck in the standings, head coach Ronnie Magsanoc didn’t want any surprises at their expense.

“It served as a warning for us,” said Magsanoc, whose squad crushed Lyceum, 77-47, Saturday night in the NCAA Season 88 men’s basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan.

Baser Amer led the way with a career-high 16 assists on top of his nine points.

“It was a good bounce back performance from him,” said Magsanoc.

Big man Jake Pascual scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the first half, where San Beda, which grabbed solo first place at 8-2, asserted its might. Pascual also had 16 rebounds.

The Pirates, who lost their fifth straight game, pulled to within 10, 41-51, and looked as if they were about to do an upset of their own.

The Red Lions though, clearly had other plans as they immediately came back to their senses, banking on a 12-0 run capped by an Amer trey with 5:10 left.

San Beda actually ended the game with a 26-6 blast, a stretch where Amer had nine straight points.

Lyceum, which was paced by Chris Cayabyab’s futile 11 points, fell to 2-8.