MANILA, Philippines - San Beda needed someone to step up in the absence of skipper Borgie Hermida. Sweet shooter Garvo Lanete gladly took up the cudgels.
The fourth year, 21-year-old guard came through in lieu of Hermida with a clutch performance that not only preserved the Lions’ immaculate 12-game slate but also nailed him the NCAA Press Corps’ Accel/Fil-Oil Player of the Week honors in Season 86 of the NCAA.
Lanete, a Zamboanga native who is one of the three basketball-playing Lanete siblings, unleashed his season best 30 points including a 13-point barrage in the fourth quarter in lifting San Beda to a 90-78 win over Mapua, Wednesday at The Arena in San Juan.
It was also enough to clinch him a second weekly citation backed by Terrilicious meat products and Gatorade.
And San Beda coach Frankie Lim was quick to acknowledge Lanete’s feat.
“He made crucial shots, it was a monster game,” said Lim, who is also manager of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games-bound Smart Gilas Pilipinas.
San Beda took control of the game early but when the Cardinals sparked a furious rally and trimmed down their deficit to seven with eight and a half minutes left in the fourth, Lanete took matters into his own hands when he nailed five straight points in the decisive 11-2 run to finally take the fight out of Mapua.
“He’s really a fireman, that’s what he is,” added Lim of Lanete.
The win pushed the Red Lions closer to snaring a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four and four wins shy of completing a sweep in the eliminations that would have sealed them an automatic best-of-three finals appearance.
Lanete edged Nate Matute of Jose Rizal U Heavy Bombers, Letran’s Kristoffer Alas and San Sebastian’s Calvin Abueva for the weekly citation given by a group of scribes from the country’s leading broadsheets and tabloids covering the beat.