San Beda ousts Perpetual, crushes Prince Eze’s MVP hopes
By Maxine Louise Lagman
3 October 2017
The San Beda Red Lions escaped the gritty University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Altas, 55-50 on Tuesday in the NCAA Season 93 men’s basketball tournament at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
San Beda lifted to a 14-1 card and handed Perpetual another loss to drop out of the Final Four bid with a 4-10 card, at the same time, crushing Prince Eze’s bid for the MVP title.
Despite the win, San Beda Coach Boyet Fernandez is alarmed at their low-scoring offense.
“We’re happy we got this win, but we got to go back and think about our priorities. We only had 11 assists, that’s too low for a San Beda basketball team,” noted Fernandez. “Our defense stepped up, but our offense is questionable.”
San Beda led by as much as 11 points coming into the payoff period, but Perpetual made a late rally after Keith Pido’s back-to-back layups and cut the deficit to five, 49-44.
However, the defending champions did not back down as Donald Tankoua and Robert Bolick combined for the last needed baskets to clinch their 13th straight victory.
“I give credit to my players, but I will not take away this game also from Perpetual. They really played good and they are a good defensive team,” added Fernandez.
Bolick led San Beda with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists, while Tankoua chipped in 14 markers and nine boards.
AC Soberano added nine points, while Javee Mocon finished with eight markers and 14 rebounds.
For the Altas, Pido, AJ Coronel and Gab Dagangon chipped in nine points each, while Eze was limited to just eight points and 11 rebounds.
