In only their second meeting after the NCAA Season 91 Finals, the San Beda College Red Lions blew out rivals Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights in the second half in an 84-70 win to send the Knights to the brink of elimination in the 2016 Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup Sunday afternoon.
The first half was close with no team breaking away.
Letran was paced by Jom Sollano and Marco Sario in the first half. Sollano tallied six points and seven boards in the first half while rookie Sario had six as well, all coming from downtown.
On the other hand, Donald Tankoua led the Red Lions with eight points and five boards. The surprise for the Red and White was rookie William Navarro. He scored eight straight in just a minute in the second quarter in the second frame that gave San Beda a 38-34 halftime cushion.
“William Navarro gave us a spark in the first half which was what we needed and it continued in the second half,” San Beda head coach Jamike Jarin said about the rookie who played club basketball in Greece.
JVee Mocon then carried the offensive load for the Red Lions in the third frame in scoring the first ten points of his team in the quarter. Moreover, Mocon’s production gave San Beda its first double-digit lead of the game, 53-42, with 3:24 left in the third canto.
The Knights made one last rally to start the final frame. Behind Rey Nambatac and Sollano, the defending NCAA Champions went on an 8-2 run that cut the lead to just seven, 67-60, with 7:20 remaining in the game.
After a Jarin timeout, the Red Lions played with a renewed vigor in blasting their opponents with a game-breaking 13-2 run. Mocon had his way inside in scoring six points in the rally while an eye in the sky play bu Mocon to Ben Adamos capped the rally. An AC Soberano triple with 3:31 remaining gave San Beda its biggest lead of the game 83-64.
“We just made some adjustments. Everybody got excited with the live coverage,” Jarin said. “When you do that you get away from the things you were doing. We calmed down and we hit our shots.”
Mocon led San Beda wit 19 points, eight boards, and five assists. He was 9-for-15 from the field as well and was able to swat away two shots. Tankoua added a double-double with 17 points and ten boards while Navarro had 15 markers in just eight minutes of game time.
For the Knights, Nambatac and Bong Quinto led their team with 13 markers apiece. Jom Sollano tallied a double-double wit 11 points and 11 boards. However, they were a miserable 36 percent from the field compared to 46 percent by the Red Lions.
The San Beda Red Lions (B, 4-1) will play their penultimate game of the elimination round against the Adamson Soaring Falcons on Thursday, June 2 at 1:30pm. On the other hand, the Letran Knights (B, 2-4) will face old rivals La Salle on Sunday, June 5 at 5:00pm.
The Scores:
SBC (84) – Mocon 19, Tankoua 17, Navarro 15, Soberano 8, Bolick 5, Potts 4, Adamos 3, Sara 2, Noah 2, Cabanag 2, Oftana 2, Presbitero 2, Bonsubre 2, Decapia 1, Tongco 0, Alas 0, Carlos 0, Bahio 0
CSJL (70) – Nambatac 13, Quinto 13, Sollano 11, Sario 8, Balanza 7, Calvo 6, Apreku 4, Balagasay 4, Luib 2, Panbid 2, Dela Pena 0, Ambohot 0, Bernabe 0
Quarterscores: 21-17, 38-34, 65-52, 84-70.
