In a battle of two age-old rivals, the San Beda College Red Lions were able to stave-off the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 82-73, to secure second seed in the 2016 FilOil Flying V Premier Cup quarterfinals Sunday afternoon in San Juan City.
Donald Tankoua overpowered Chibueze Ikeh and the Blue Eagle frontline to the tune of 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field and 13 boards. AC Soberano waxed hot from downtown in scoring 15 points, all from downtown.
“We are just 70 percent right now,” San Beda head coach Jamike Jarin said about the win. “We were in the 80’s na but we backslided.”
San Beda was up 61-56 entering the final frame as Tankoua abused the San Beda defense in the third frame in scoring eight third quarter points. Gaining the momentum, Calvin Oftana scored five straight points in a 9-3 rally that gave the Red Lions a 70-61 lead with 6:05 remaining in the game.
Looking for a spark, the Blue Eagles looked to Thirdy Ravena on the offensive end as he scored four straight points to cut the lead to just five. However, a back-breaking corner triple by Soberano stopped the bleeding.
Baskets by Ikeh and a shotclock-beating three by Adrian Wong gave Ateneo a glimmer of hope in cutting the lead to just four, 76-72, with 2:18 left in the game. However, misses by Ravena and baskets by Robert Bolick and Tankoua sealed the second seed for the Red Lions.
“May pagka-perfectionist kasi ako and I saw that we played selfish today,” Jarin said about the team committing 13 turnovers and assisting on just two-thirds of their made field goals. “We had opportunities to give up the extra pass, controlling the tempo of the game but we failed to do so.”
“It’s still a process and we backslided today. We should be mature enough to bounce back from our mistakes.”
Ravena scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed ten boards in the loss. Aeron Black added ten markers and six boards.
The San Beda Red Lions will have to wait for the result of the National University-Arellano University tilt with the loser facing the defending Premier Cup champions on Tuesday, June 7. The Blue Eagles can fall to fourth seed if UE defeats Adamson in their game later on.
The Scores:
SBC (82) – Tankoua 20, Soberano 15, Mocon 11, Bolick 9, Sara 8, Noah 6, Oftana 5, Tongco 2, Presbitero 2, Bonsubre 2, Carlos 2, Potts 0, Navarro 0, Alas 0, Bahio 0, Adamos 0.
ADMU (73) – Ravena 22, Black 10, Ikeh 9, Wong 8, Tio 5, Nieto Ma. 4, Babilonia 4, Go 4, Porter 3, Mendoza 2, Asistio 2, Tolentino 0, Allmond 0, Nieto Mi. 0.
Quarterscores: 19-14, 40-36, 61-56, 82-73.
