Lions, Bombers repel rivals in Filoil Flying V

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda and Jose Rizal U fashioned out a pair of lopsided victories over separate rivals to join the early winners in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the San Juan Arena yesterday.

The Red Lions gave the national youth Under-18 squad a neat cage lesson and ran away with a 79-57 rout while the Heavy Bombers blasted the debuting University of San Carlos Warriors, 78-61.

“We really wanted to play well to the fact that we want the national team to learn something in this game,” said SBC coach Boyet Fernandez. “Hopefully, we really helped them a lot.”

The four-time NCAA champions imposed their will early and dominated the youth squad with Art de la Cruz leading the attack with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Ola Adeogun fell short of matching De la Cruz’s double-double effort with 19 markers and nine boards while playmaker Baser Amer added 11 points.

JRU center Philip Mabulac scored eight of his team’s first 10 points in a 10-2 opening blast that set the tone for the Heavy Bombers’ rout. They posted their biggest lead at 25 points on a lay-up by Ghanaian center Razak Abdulwahab.

But a scuffle marred the contest as JRU’s Nonoy Benavides and USC’s Glennson Ybanez were ejected for punching fouls. 

“We had no idea how they (USC) plays,” said JRU head coach Vergel Meneses. “All we knew was they had a strong foreign post player. So we had to be ready for that. Philip (Mabulac) was consistent and when he is we can be very good.”

Jaycee Asuncion led JRU with 18 points while Tey Teodoro and Paniamogan chipped in 14 markers apiece.  

Espoir Toyambi of Congo topscored for USC with 20 points while his Cameroonian teammate, the 6’7” Shooster Olago added 14 points.