Lions rip Maroons in Filoil Cup

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda overcame a slow start and a tough University of the Philippines side as it came through with a strong finish to fashion out a 70-61 victory yesterday in the Filoil Flying V Tanduay First Five Pre-Season Invitational Cup at the Arena in San Juan.

Fil-Australian Anthony Semerad had 17 and Rome dela Rosa added 12 for the Red Lions, who couldn’t shake off the tenacious Maroons in the first two quarters and had to come up with a strong finishing kick to turn back their rivals.

The win evened the Red Lions’ record to 1-1 after an opening-day loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles, while foiling the Maroons in their debut in the tournament presented by Pioneer Mighty Bond Extreme.

Up by just four four, 34-30, at the turn, the Red Lions reasserted their might off the boards and then went on a shooting spree in the third quarter to post a 55-44 lead.

The Maroons actually countered with their own run and even tied the game at 57 on a Magi Sison’s putback. But the Lions never got discouraged and put together a 13-4 run to pull away for good.

“We’re fortunate we limited them to a 60-point output. I told them that as long as we win the rebounding department, we’ll get going. Against Ateneo, we only had six. Today, we had 23 which is a good improvement on our part,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim.

Mike Silungan, who spent last season at UP’s Team B, had 25 points and Sison added 13 for the Maroons, who played without injured second-year guard Mikee Reyes.