Lions roar to solo lead, trip Knights

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda stamped its class and dominated Letran from start to finish as it cruised to a 77-62 victory – its sixth straight for the solo lead in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Garvo Lanete continued to dish out big games as he poured in 21 points, including three triples, while the rest backed him up with a gritty defense that took the fight out of the Knights.

“Lanete is really consistent and played big for us for the second straight game,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim referring to the sweet-shooting Lanete, who scored 32 points in the Lions 103-62 rout of the Emilio Aguinaldo Generals last Friday.

It was also San Beda’s 11th win in row over Letran since absorbing a 69-70 defeat on July 25, 2007 and 13th overall in their last 14 meetings spanning six seasons.

Letran fell to its second loss against four wins but still remained in third.

“We’re still far from beating them,” said Louie Alas.

Although the Lions built a big cushion early, the game was very physical from the start with Kevin Alas and Jake Pascual assessed a double technical foul and Andrei Mendoza slapped a flagrant foul on Anjo Caram late in the game.

Earlier, Allan Mangahas hit a buzzer-beating triple to lift Mapua to a thrilling 73-70 win over Arellano U.

Mangahas, who missed seven of his eight shots, took the inbound pass from Jonathan Banal off Fil-Palestinian rookie Yousef Taha’s screen then banked in a triple that clinched the win for the Cardinals.

Taha hauled down 15 rebounds and scored 17 points, the last four kept the score tied before Mangahas came through with the game-winner.

Mapua thus notched its second straight win after dropping its first four matches while dealing the Chiefs their fifth defeat against a win.

In junior play, Francis Abarcar scored 27 points and hauled down 17 rebounds as defending champion San Beda cruised past Letran, 84-72.

Daryl Nazareno added 14 points while Van Abatayo chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds for the Red Cubs, who grabbed the solo lead with a 6-0 card.

The Squires, who drew 15 points and seven rebounds from Aldrin Serafica, dropped to fourth at 4-2.

In the other game, Mapua beat Arellano U, 88-74, as Rodolfo Alejandro scored a game-high 29 points.The Red Robins improved to sixth place at 3-3.