San Beda University continued its mastery over Emilio Aguinaldo College, taking a dominant 85-56 win, to score its first win in the NCAA Season 98 Men’s Basketball Tournament, Tuesday at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
The Red Lions picked up its 24th straight win against the Generals, making them undefeated against the Generals since their first appearance in Season 85 way back in 2009.
San Beda erupted for 32 points in the opening period, knocking down eight triples in the process to bamboozle EAC. James Kwekuteye was able to outscore the entire EAC 8-7 all by his lonesome in the first 10 minutes of the game.
During their dismal first quarter, the Generals shot just 3-of-18 from the field while committing nine turnovers. Only Nat Cosejo and Art Cosa were able to score in the opening frame.
Things did not get any better for EAC in the second quarter as they only put up 10 points on 4-of-17 shooting.
The lead grew by as much as 39 in the fourth, 83-44, following a JB Bahio free throw with 5:25 left.
“Well it’s always good getting the first win diba sa early in the season, especially coming off a loss,” said Red Lions head coach Yuri Escueta. “So ‘yun nga sabi ko sa kanila ‘at least we have a game in Tuesday makabawi agad tayo’. So, after nung Mapua game we focus already dun sa EAC na host.
“So hats off to them also in the second half, they really came to play, they really went harder on us,” he added.
Kwekuteye led San Beda with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, and an absurd plus-31 rating.
Yukien Andrada and Tony Ynot had 13 and 12 respectively with the former adding eight boards to his name.
For winless EAC, Joshua Tolentino finished with a game-high 16 points together with five boards and four assists. JC Luciano added seven markers and 12 rebounds.
Next up for San Beda is Lyceum of the Philippines University (0-1) on Saturday at 3 PM, while EAC will look to end their losing streak against Jose Rizal University (0-1) on the same day at 12 noon.
The Scores:
San Beda 85 –– Kwekuteye 15, Andrada 13, Ynot 12, Sanchez 9, Cortez 8, Alfaro 7, Cuntapay 6, Visser 6, Bahio 3, Tagala 3, Llarena 3, Cometa 0, Jopia 0, Tagle 0.
EAC 56 — Tolentino 16, Gurtiza 10, Luciano 7, Cosejo 6, Robin 5, Cosa 3, Bajon 3, Maguliano 2, Dominguez 2, Bacud 2, Liwag 0, An. Doria 0, Balowa 0, Ad. Doria 0, Umpad 0.
Quarterscores: 32-7, 55-17, 73-41, 85-56.
