San Beda keeps No. 1 spot with another Unfortunate Incident

San Beda College, again, stays invincible.

The SBC Red Lions took the No. 1 spot at the end of their elimination campaign after pulling-off an emotional 87-84 win over the Letran Knights last August 31 in the 83rd NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

Without star player Yousif Aljamal, the Red Lions leaned on former Red Cubs Rogemar Menor, Borgie Hermida and former NCAA Juniors MVP Jay-R Taganas most of the way to claim their 11th win in 12 games in the two-round elimination.

“It feels good after we beat Perpetual last Wednesday,” said Menor, who was praised by head SBC coach Frankie Lim for leading the team without Aljamal. “Yes it is true we are focusing against Letran because this team beat us in the first round.”

Menor, who led the Red Cubs to their 14th NCAA Juniors title in 2004, piled up 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field along with six rebounds and three assists. While fellow Red Lion Pong Escobal added 10 of his 14 points in the second half with seven assists.

After Menor’s lay-up at the 1:32 minute mark, gave the Red Lions an 82-77 lead. RJ Jazul responded with a trey to reduce the deficit to 80-82 with 1:20 minutes remaining.

But point guard Hermida produced a career-high 17 points and dished-out eight assists, nailed a pivotal three-pointer with 33.5 seconds remaining in regulation to give San Beda a five-point cushion.

Dino Daa, not known for hitting from the outside, drilled a triple that narrowed the gap back to just two, 83-85, with only 18.8 seconds remaining.

Escobal sealed the deal for the Red Lions after making two pressure-packed free throws with only 4.8 seconds to go.

Daa almost created another miracle for the Knights but muffled his last shot from the foul line with 3.9 seconds left. But the plan did not materialize as Red Lions’ 2006 Rookie-MVP Samuel Ekwe tapped the ball away as time expired.

Letran College, with the loss, has dropped to 8-3 and needs to win its last elimination game against Jose Rizal University on Monday – the last day of the two-round elimination – to keep the second twice-to-beat edge in the semifinals.

“We fought hard but San Beda really fought harder,” said Letran Coach Louie Alas. “We need to prepare against JRU on Monday and I’m hoping we can get back on San Beda.”

Ekwe wowed the San Beda crowd with his above the rim defense along with 12 points and seven rebounds.

His first block was against a Bryan Faundo attempted slam in the early minutes of fourth period. The following shot blocks were against Jazul and Rey Guevarra.

Jay-R Taganas, a junior’s Rookie-MVP winner in 2003, filled in for Aljamal with nine points and 10 rebounds, while Raymond Maggay had eight points in 12 minutes of action.

The game was tightly fought in the first period with the Lions leading by just three points at 22-19.

The Red Lions threatened to pull away the second quarter, uncorking an 18-10 run to lead at half time, 40-29.

San Beda controlled the first three quarters of the game, leading by as many as 11, 68-57, at the end of third quarter.

The Knights, who outscored the Red Lions in the fourth quarter, 27-19, banked on Guevarra’s sixth straight-point midway thru the final period to come up to within 68-63 with still 8:03 minutes left.

The Knights even trimmed the deficit both times, 80-82 and 83-85, in the remaining minutes.

“We are back to No. 1 and we are going to retain our title,” said rookie coach Lim. “We missed Aljamal but Taganas and Maggay stepped up in his absence. Borgie also stepped up.”

San Beda avenged its 69-70 lost to Letran in first round at The Arena in San Juan City last July 25. That was the only lost of San Beda.

“We cannot afford to lose against Letran,” he said. “So everybody delivered.”

Although Letran made more threes than San Beda, 11-of-26 against San Beda’s 1-of-9, the Red Lions outscored the Knights in Total Field Goal Shooting, 37-out-of-66 (56%) against 30-out-of-78 (38%). RJ Jazul led Letran with 23 points and eight assists and Guevarra had 14 points. San Beda battles fourth seed Mapua in the Final Four.

Off the court, shortly after the ballgame, a free-for-all broke loose. With San Beda fans reportedly engaging some of Letran’s team staff in a melee. The event lasted for almost 20 minutes with the Big Dome’s security trying to pacify the situation. A statement was made by the NCAA Man Com committee members Paul Supan and Henry Atayde about the incident.

Individual Scores:

SBC 87–Menor 21, Hermida 17, Escobal 14, Ekwe 12, Taganas 9, Maggay 8, Gamalinda 4, Marcelo 2, Lanete 0, Tirona 0.

CSJL 84–Jazul 23, Guevarra 14, Quinday 12, Daa 10, Cabonce 9, Faundo 7, Gutilban 6, Dangcal 2, Melegrito 1, Reposar 0, Del Rosario 0.

Quarter scores: 22-19, 40-29, 68-57, 87-84