San Beda University survived San Sebastian College-Recoletos in overtime, 82-79, after a highly physical affair in the NCAA Season 98 Seniors Basketball Tournament on Sunday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
All of a sudden, the Red Lions (9-4) are now only half a game behind College of St. Benilde (9-3) for the number two spot. The Stags, on the other hand, have dropped to a 5-7 win-loss record.
After the first minute of the extra period, Peter Alfaro finally broke the tiebreaker after a booming triple, and then JB Bahio followed it up with a basket after securing an offensive board, 81-76.
Jessie Sumoda knocked down his own three to cut the deficit to two at the 1:01-mark before James Kwekuteye split his free throws, 82-79 with 12.3 seconds left.
Ichie Altamirano released a game-tying three with exactly four seconds left to force double overtime but missed.
“Kung ano man ang kaya naming kontrolin, ayun ang aayusin namin. We have to play stronger with the ball, we have to be able to handle pressure and get rebounds,” said SBU head coach Yuri Escueta.
Up by as much as 13 in the fourth, San Sebastian made it rain from three started by Rhinwill Yambing’s back-to-back threes to finally get back in the ball game.
Rafael Are was able to get the first deadlock of the ball game, sprinting to the basket right after Kwekuteye’s fadeaway with 3.8 seconds.
Coming off an inbound pass, Are stole the ball from the Red Lions and launched a corner mid-range right at the buzzer for the win but was too strong.
“Sabi ko sa players ko kailangan matuto kami mag-adjust. Hindi pwedeng tumuturnover ng 25 dahil sa physicality. Dapat matuto kami mag-adjust don,” Escueta added.
It was an all-out brawl the entire game that saw three unsportsmanlike fouls, and two technical fouls in the fourth quarter alone including Altamirano’s excessive hard contact at 1:25 in the fourth and San Beda’s technical foul for improper bench decorum also at the same time.
Damie Cuntapay led San Beda with 16 points and four rebounds, while Kwekuteye added 14 markers, seven boards and four dimes.
Still for the Red Lions, had 13 points, four rebounds, and six assists. Meanwhile, Bahio had a monster 16 boards to go along with 11 markers.
For the Stags, Rhinwill Yambing had a game-high 17 points despite fouling out in the fourth, only seeing 19:45 minutes of action.
Romel Calahat contributed 14 markers, 13 boards, and two assists.
San Beda will next face Lyceum of the Philippines University on Wednesday at 3 PM, while San Sebastian will look to get back in the win column versus Jose Rizal University on Friday, also at 3 PM.
The Scores:
San Beda 82 — Cuntapay 16, Kwekuteye 14, Ynot 13, Bahio 11, Alfaro 5, Andrada 5, Cortez 5, Cometa 4, Sanchez 3, Jopia 2, Visser 2, Payosing 2, Tagala 0.
San Sebastian 79 –– Yambing 17, Calahat 14, Sumoda 10, Villapando 8, Desoyo 8, Suico 6, Altamirano 5, Are 4, Una 3, Escobido 2, Shanoda 2, Cosari 0, Aguilar 0.
Quarterscores: 21-11, 43-32, 63-52, 76-76, 82-79.
