San Beda routs rival Letran for 6-0 slate
MANILA, Philippines—San Beda rolled to its sixth victory in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament as it reasserted its mastery over rival Letran, 77-62, Monday at the Arena in San Juan.
The Red Lions flashed their usual dominance and crushed the Knights for the 11th straight time since 2007.
“We played our usual game. We caught Letran on a bad day,” said San Beda head coach Frankie Lim, whose squad kept its clean slate.
Slasher Garvo Lanete caught fire with 21 points on three-of-four shooting from beyond the arch, but it was the rebounding of the Red Lions that gave them the solid edge.
“We beat the number one rebounding team in the league. Everybody went for the ball,” Lim added.
All of Lim’s fielded players collared at least a rebound each as San Beda, which is playing sans last year’s MVP Sudan Daniel, outrebounded Letran, 46-40.
“I challenged them that this is our chance to beat the other teams without a foreign player. [My boys] are doing more than what is expected of them,” said Lim of his team’s performance.
Kyle Pascual and David Marcelo scored 12 points each and combined for 10 rebounds, while Jake Pascual hauled down 11 boards.
The Red Lions didn’t get a chance to whip the Knights by more than 20 points though, with their biggest advantage posted at 50-31 in the third quarter.
“We were up by as much as 19 points, then we relaxed,” said Lim.
But just as the deficit was down to nine, 48-57, the Red Lions came roaring in the payoff period anchored on a dejecting 9-1 run.
Letran, which absorbed its second loss but remains in solo third, actually stormed back in the game on back-to-back treys by top scorer Kevin Alas late in the third period.
Alas tallied a game-high 20 points with seven boards even as lanky center Raymond Almazan finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for Letran.
The last time the Knights, who are having a better season after missing the final four last year, defeated the Red Lions was in the first round of season 83 on a clutch basket by Rey Guevarra, who is now with San Miguel in the PBA.
