After absorbing an 85-86 loss to the University of Cebu Webmasters, the Red Lions are up against the University of San Jose Recoletos Jaguars tonight back to the Cebu Coliseum to complete their four-game CESAFI tour where they are eyeing a 3-1 record before going home.
The Red Lions now has 2-1 win-loss record because they also defeated the University of San Carlos the other day, 87-73 at the USC gym.
A cluster of points coming from Yousif Aljamal and Raymond Maggay proved to be crucial for the Red Lions because that stymied a minor comeback by the Lancers who came to as close as seven points, 55-62 at 3:23 left in the fourth period but the Red Lions of coach Koy Banal simply shrugged off their shoulders and thwarted the gritty run by staying calm knowing they need only to play smart with time also on their side.
Samuel Ekwe, a 6-8 Nigerian student looked very tied down the homestretch as he could not longer handle entry passes to the middle maybe because he had been making dunkshots during the warm-up but defensively, he dominated Rino Berame by grabbing most of San Beda's defensive rebounds aside from scoring 10 points.
Ekwe who significantly improved his free throw shooting unlike in their loss to UC wherein he could have forced an 86-all stalemate in the last 4.7 seconds, scored only 10 points but his inside presence proved the Lancer's offense so miserably erratic.
Jousif Aljamal topscored for the Red Lions with 17 points while Rogemar Menor added 15 points even as Maggay had also his lion's share offensively with 10 points, four of them in the closing seconds of the contest.
The Lancers played without Jayford Rodriguez and Ariel Mepaña because the two ML Kwarta Padala-Cebu City key players were in Balamban , Cebu playing game 2 of the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) finals against host team Cebu Landmasters-Toledo City.
Without their potential scorers, the Lancers went to Berame and Morsie Akad for the offense and they responded with 13 points apiece. The Lancers were even forced to field in Michael Luga and three under trainees in Chris Diputado, Marc Anthony Manigke and Frangel Omolon.
Only Diputado scored among the trainees with three points while Manigke and Omolon did not.
It was a bad day for UV in their homecourt yesterday because the Baby Lancers bowed to the UC Junior Webmasters, 56-65.
The scores
First Game
UC (Jrs.) (65) - Capoy 14, Panerio 10, Espinosa 9, Babad 8, Connors 7, Enriquez 5, Mohammad 4, Venci 3, Cuico 2, Cabañero 2, Fago 2
UV (Jrs) (56) - Lao 18, Macasero 13, Gamali 9, Espinas 4, Gonzaga 4, Lacno 3, Malig-on 2, Lacuna 2
Second Game
San Beda (70) - Aljamal 17, Menor 15, Ekwe 10, Maggay 10, Evangelista 6, Tecson 5, Angeles 4, Galinato 2, Tirona 1
UV (55) - Akad 13, Berame 13, Dennison 7, Lanete 5, Luga 4, Diputado 3, Esperat 2, Lasala 2, Arda 1 Quarterscores: 18-12; 41-27; 55-43; 70-55