Red Lions stalk leaders, smother Blazers for 3rd

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda used a balanced attack to demolish a listless St. Benilde side as the reigning three-peat champions ran away with an 86-66 rout to seize solo third in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Garvo Lanete continued to dish out big numbers for San Beda as he fired 16 points while five others churned out double-digit outputs for the Red Lions, who uncorked a series of scoring runs in the fourth quarter to pull away.

It was SBC’s third victory in four outings as it stayed within striking distance of unbeaten joint leaders San Sebastian and Jose Rizal (3-0).

Jay-R Tecson, Jake Pascual, Borgie Hermida, Sudan Daniel and Adler dela Rosa scattered 14, 14, 12, 10 and 10 points, respectively, to underscore San Beda’s balance offensive sock.

Earlier, San Beda mauled St. Benilde, 108-56, while Letran whipped Mapua, 135-58, to stretch their win runs to four in junior division.

The Lions took control in the first three quarters and pulled away in the fourth period with a string of baskets that the Blazers failed to counter.

“We couldn’t put them away early was because we were committing errors,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim. “When we managed to minimize that, then everything fell into place.”

The Lions also crashed the boards with authority, hauling down 62 rebounds as against St. Benilde’s 34.

The high-leaping pair of Pascual and the 6-7 Daniel accounted for 28 of San Beda’s rebounds with the latter adding four shot blocks and three assists.

But it was Lanete who kept the Blazers at bay as he came through with timely shots while switching from the 1-2 positions.

“We know he’s talented, very focused and makes the right decision, he’s really stepping up big for us this season,” said Lim of Lanete.

“I think we proved that we can play a lot better in games that offer a lot of opportunities especially for my small guards to work on their shots when teams like St. Benilde plays the zone,” said Lim.

Jeff Morial paced the Blazers with 17 points while Jacob Manlapaz, William Johnston and Robbie Manalac chipped in 14, 12 and 11 points for St. Benilde, which fell to its second straight loss after back-to-back victories.