MANILA–San Beda, drawing another big game from guard Garvo Lanete, repulsed Letran, 77-62, Monday to extend its unbeaten start to six games in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.
Three days after his 32-point explosion against Emilio Aguinaldo College, the sweet-shooting guard from Zamboanga kept his torrid form, finishing with 21 points as the Lions grabbed the solo lead from idle San Sebastian.
“We played our usual game but I think we caught Letran on a bad day,” said coach Frankie Lim, whose Lions strung up their 24th win since last season—and their 11th consecutive—over their arch rival Knights since 2007.
The Knights absorbed their second loss in six games, but remained in solo third.
Allan Mangahas earlier banked in a triple at the buzzer to lift Mapua past Arellano, 73-70, in the first game.
The Cardinals posted their second straight win to climb to 2-4 while the Chiefs dropped into a tie for last place with Perpetual Help at 1-5.
It was a positive start to what Lim described as a “grueling” 20-day stretch for the Lions in which they will face the remaining cast of last year’s Final Four—Mapua, Jose Rizal U and SSC.
The Lions’ highly anticipated rematch against the Stags, whom they swept in the best-of-three finals last year, is set Aug. 19.
Benched for most of the second half, Mangahas, who left in the third quarter after scoring just one of eight attempts, was recalled to the floor with seven seconds left for the final play.
Getting a screen from Yousif Taha, Mangahas got the space needed to launch the winning triple over the outstretched arms of Jerald Lapuz. The Mapua hero finished with seven points.
Taha tied the game at 70 with 32.5 seconds remaining and the Cardinals recovered the ball with seven seconds left after putting up a tough defensive stand against a driving Virgil Zulueta.
The senior scores:
First Game
MAPUA 73—Taha 17, Nimes 16, Banal 8, Sarangay 7, Parala 7, Mangahas 7, Chien 6, Ighalo 4, Stevens 1.
ARELLANO 70—Celada 17, Caperal 17, Acidre 15, Zulueta 15, Lapuz 4, Palma 2, Pagayunan 0, Doligon 0.
Quarters: 20-22,33-34, 52-57, 73-70
Second Game
SAN BEDA 77—Lanete 21, K. Pascual 12, Marcelo 12, dela Rosa 8, Caram 7, Villahermosa 7, Amer 5 J. Pascual 4, D. Semerad 1, A. Semerad 0.
LETRAN 62—Alas 20, Almazan 12, Cortes 8, Cruz 7, Espiritu 5, Racal 4, Belorio 4, Mendoza 2, Dysam 0, Gabriel 0, Pantin 0.
Quarters: 20-10, 41-25, 60-49, 77-62