By: Anton Guarina
With the win, the Golden Stags are tied with the Growling Tigers with a 1-1 record while dropping the Red Lions to their third loss in as many games.
Rafael Are was one of three double-digit scorers who provided the spark for San Sebastian College, scoring 21 points on 13-of-14 shooting from the charity stride. He also had six rebounds and an assist.
Romel Calahat and Kenneth Vilapando caught fire in the contest, with the former dropping 17 points, eight rebounds, and an assist, and the latter scoring 13 points, three rebounds, and an assist.
San Beda, led by as much as 16 points off a corner triple by James Canlas, 34-18, at the 4:12 mark of the second period, then Rafael Are made a jump shot to cut the deficit to six, 34-28, entering the third period.
Though the Red Lions were able to gain the lead, 56-54 off two free throws by JV Gallego, Ken Villapando powered a 3-0 run to surpass San Beda, 57-56 at the end of the third quarter.
Rafael Are drove a layup to tie the game to 72- all, while Raymart Escobido and Villapando added a total of six points to seal the win for the Golden Stags.
“Alam naman natin gaano kami ka-hirap humabol dun sa scoring. Sa first quarter kasi medyo nagulat lang ‘yung mga bata dahil matagal-tagal na rin di nakapag-laro. Tapos, ang nangyari is na-dahan-dahan nila yung playing good defense all the time, and executing all the plays,” said head coach Egay Macaraya.
“Nakita ko naman yung character nila na gusto nilang manalo, ‘yun lang naman gusto ko makita all the time. Kasi if ever we played good defense, malaki talaga chance na mananalo kami,” he added.
For San Beda, Canlas and Justine Sanchez finished with 17 and 12 points to pace the Red Lions.
The Golden Stags (0-2) will face the Growling Tigers (1-1) on August 9 at 5:00 P.M, while the Red Lions (1-2) will go up against Colegio de San Juan de Letran (1-0) on August 14 at 7:00 P.M. still at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
The Scores:
San Sebastian 79 — Are 21, Calahat 17, Villapando 13, Escobido 7, Sumoda 5, Una 3, Altamirano 2, Cosari 2, Garcia 2, Yambing 2, Felebrico 1, Desoyo 0, Shanoda 0.
San Beda 73 — Kwekuteye 17, Sanchez 12, Gallego 8, Bahio 6, Alfaro 6, Ynot 6, Cortez 5, Cuntapay 5, Jopia 3, Tagle 3, Andrada 2, Visser 0, Llarena 0, Teruel 0.
Quarterscores: 13-25, 28-34, 57-56, 79-73.
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