The San Beda Manila Red Lions continued their rampage in the 2017 Filoil Flying V Pre-season Cup, stifling Teytey Teodoro and the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 80-64, to advance to the last stage of the tournament, Friday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
This was San Beda’s 10th straight win in the tournament and, more importantly, the win helped the Red Lions overcome their sole tormentors in the NCAA tournament last season.
“Last season [NCAA], I heard they [San Beda] didn’t win any game against JRU,” returning San Beda head coach Boyet Fernandez said. “I’m happy this preseason, we got back at them.”
Robert Bolick led the charts once again with 22 points, three rebounds, six assists, plus a monster block in the second quarter after chasing Jed Mendoza down from finishing a fast break.
The first quarter ended with JRU leading, 17-12, but AC Soberano, who came off the bench, hit three consecutive triples in the second quarter instantly overcoming the Heavy Bombers’ lead, 23-17. In addition, the Red Lions’ tight defense rendered JRU scoreless in the first four minutes of the second frame.
The Tarlac-based sniper scored 14 points, and was 4-out-of-5 from downtown.
In the second half, JRU came within four points, 48-44, with buckets from foreign student-athlete Abdoul Poutouochi and Jed Mendoza. But the second unit of San Beda consisting of AC Soberano, Clint Doliguez, and rookie Kemark Carino all contributed to keep the Heavy Bombers at bay to end the third frame.
“We really wanted to fortify our rotations. We know we can start anybody in our team,” Fernandez added. “The depth of the team, its their responsibility to step up every time we play.”
Come the final frame, the Red Lions were very much in control and even listed a 19-point lead, 78-59, with 2:17 minutes left in the game.
JRU’s Ervin Gorospe and Poutouochi scored 17 and 12 points respectively.
“If we can limit Teytey below ten and try to manage Mendoza, Grospe, if we can limit him, then we have good chance of beating JRU,” Coach Fernandez remarked, as Teodoro was limited to only nine points on a horrid 4-for-13 shooting clip.
San Beda will face the winner of the La Salle-Lyceum semifinal game on Sunday, June 25, at 5:00pm. JRU, on the other hand, take on the loser of that game in the bronze medal match at 3:00pm. – By: Danine Cruz
The Scores:
SBC (80) – Bolick 22, Noah 16, Soberano 14, Carino 7, Doliguez 6, Mocon 5, Adamos 4, Presbitero 3, Potts 3, Abuda 0, Toba 0, Tongco 0, Bahio 0.
JRU (64) – Grospe 17, Poutouochi 12, Dela Virgen 10, Teodoro 9, Mendoza 7, Abdulrazak 5, Lasquety 2, Mate 2, Mariano 0, Bordon 0, Sawat 0.
Quarterscores: 12-17, 33-29, 56-47, 80-64.
