San Beda pounds Letran into submission

San Beda pounds Letran into submission

by rick olivares

photo by jan dizon

Don’t think that for one minute the San Beda Red Lions have not heard what has been said in the backrooms, chatrooms, or on basketball courts.

Can’t win without an African or American reinforcement, they say.

After six play dates in NCAA Season 87, the defending champions are asking a question (while making a statement) – “You were saying?”

In a meeting between league-leading San Beda and second-running Letran, the Red Lions ran roughshod over their NCAA rivals 77-62 to go to 6-0 at the San Juan Arena last Monday. They’d got a 26-game winning streak dating back to last year’s season sweep all the way to the Finals.

The Red Lions, with last year’s injured Most Valuable Player Sudan Daniel cheering from behind the bench, posted an 18-point lead, 50-32, at the halfway mark of the third period but the Knights made a game of it behind junior guard Kevin Alas’ 15 points and the strong inside game of sophomore center Raymond Almazan who carried the scoring cudgels for the foul-plagued Jam Cortes and Jonathan Belorio.

After Almazan hit two free throws to bring SBC’s lead down to single digits 57-48 to close out the third quarter, Letran seemed poised for a huge comeback. But a miss to start the fourth coupled by turnovers and poor shot selection killed whatever momentum they had going for them. The Red Lions, with Rome dela Rosa flashing his father’s death-defying form on transition, finished with a strong fourth quarter where they scored 20 points to the 14 of Letran.

“We beat the number one rebounding team in the league,” said SBC head coach Frankie Lim. “And they are one of the toughest so you have to be satisfied with that.”

Garvo Lanete paced San Beda with 21 points while Kyle Pascual and Dave Marcelo added 12 apiece. Anthony Semerad denied that the win was sending a statement to the rest of the league. “We still have a ways to go, mate,” said the second year forward. “We still have to match up with some tough teams like San Sebastian. But I like where we are at.”

The Red Lions face the Cardinals on Friday, August 5 at 4pm; Jose Rizal University on Wednesday, August 10 at 4pm; and San Sebastian on Friday, August 19 also at 4pm. “This is where we find out what we are really made of,” underscored Lim of the remaining tough schedule of the first round.

The Letran duo of Kevin Alas and Raymond Almazan combined for 32 points. But it was nowhere near enough to prevent the Knights from falling to 4-2. “Malakas talaga ang San Beda,” conceded Letran coach Louie Alas after the match.

It was San Beda’s 13^th win in 14 matches with Letran dating back to 2006.