Red Lions, Red Cubs score twin killing in NCAA Finals

This appears in the Thursday October 14, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.

Red Lions, Red Cubs score twin killing in NCAA Finals

game recap by rick olivares photo by jan dizon

The San Beda Red Lions flashed deadly form as they walloped defending champion San Sebastian in Game One of Season 86 NCAA Finals 93-73 at the Araneta Coliseum to inch closer to their 15th league title.

After the Stags’ Ronald Pascual scored on a putback at the 3:41 mark of the third quarter to tie the match at 58-all, Red Lions’ point guard Borgie Hermida quickly retaliated with a layup and a foul by counterpart Pamboy Raymundo for a three-point lead.

Hermida followed that up with a deuce off a jumper over Raymundo to pad the lead to 63-58 to open the floodgates for San Beda’s high-powered offense.

In a four minute stretch that bridged the opening minute of the fourth quarter, San Beda was up 72-60 with the Stags’ only two points coming from a pair of free throws from Anthony del Rio.

From a slim 44-40 lead in the first half, San Beda outscored San Sebastian 49-33 to turn what had the makings of a close match into a blowout.

Hermida, in his final playing year, led San Beda with 18 points. Garvo Lanete backed him up with 17 markers with MVP Awardee Sudan Daniel added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“We had a good stretch in the third and early fourth quarter and that spelled the difference.” Said San Beda head coach Frankie Lim. “Borgie scored five points. He’s tough. I had to tell him to slow down a bit because they (San Sebastian) were trying to hurt my players and we still have a game on Friday.”

Calvin Abueva led the beleaguered Stags with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Raymundo added 15 and Ronald Pascual 12. But the team, according to San Sebastian head coach Ato Agustin, faltered when the veterans went to the bench for a breather. “We were not able to stop their fastbreaks. Napagod kami sa kanila. We have to watch the tape tomorrow and see what we can do to extend the series this Friday.”

Earlier, the San Beda Red Cubs also demolished the Staglets 89-64 in Game One of their Best-of-Three Series. The defending juniors champions never looked back following a 27-11 first quarter lead. The Red Cubs turned the game into a layup line by scoring 30 points on fastbreaks and another 20 off Staglets turnovers. Juniors MVP Baser Amer scored 14 points and had 18 assists; the most this season.

Von Chavez led San Beda with 21 points while Adam Abatayo, Chris Javier, and Daryl Nazareno chipped in 14, 13 and 13 points respectively.

The Staglets had only two players in double figures with Mythical Five selection Gino Jumao-as scoring 31 and forward Mark Magno adding 19.

Game Two of both the juniors and seniors division is this Friday October 15 at the Araneta Coliseum.