Lions claw Pirates, grab solo lead

Games Friday

(The Arena, San Juan)

12 p.m. – St. Benilde vs San Sebastian (jrs/srs)

4 p.m. – Pereptual Help vs EAC (srs/jrs)

MANILA, Philippines – San Beda bucked the absence of Arthur dela Cruz and the foul woes of Nigerian Ola Adeogun as it turned back a rugged Lyceum, 84-68, to jump to the top in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Wednesday.

Fil-Aussie Anthony Semerad flourished on his first start of the season, exploding with a career-best-tying 20 points to fill that Dela Cruz void. Sane Beda’s bench, meanwhile, stepped up when Adeogun got into foul trouble early in the third quarter to help them survive the stubborn Pirates.

Dela Cruz served out his one-game suspension after his unsportsmanlike foul on Mapua's Jeson Cantos in the second quarter of their blowout win days back was upgraded to a disqualifying foul.

Adeogun, for his part, finished with nine points, 12 rebounds and a block, but he could have contributed more had he not fell into early foul trouble that limited him to just a mere 21 minutes.

"I have to give it to Anthony for stepping up to the challenge in Arthur's absence," said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez. "I also have to give credit to my bench, who really provided relief when Ola was sitting on the bench due to foul trouble."

Indeed, Fernandez drew strength from his second stringers Ranbill Tongco, Jaypee Mendoza and Semerad's twin brother David, who combined for 23 points, most of which coming in a stretch bridging the final two quarters when Adeogun was sitting on the bench.

The three, with help from Semerad, Baser Amer and Kyle Pascual, were instrumental in quelling Lyceum's repeated fightbacks in the fourth period when the latter managed to slice its deficit to a single digit.

Tongco, a rookie out of the San Beda Cubs, scored all his eight points in the period while Mendoza and David Semerad had six.

Anthony Semerad, who matched his career-high scoring effort he registered during his rookie season four years back, said it best.

"We have one of the deepest benches in this league and that is our advantage," he noted.

Playing characteristically rugged, the Pirates dictated the pace and led in the first quarter, 18-14, with big man Joseph Gabayni doing most of the damage by scoring all his eight points in the period.

The Pirates, led by Dexter Zamora's 14 points, fell to 1-2 (win-loss).

The scores:

First Game

San Beda 84 – A. Semerad 20, Amer 12, Pascual 10, Mendoza 9, Adeogun 9, Tongco 8, Koga 7, D. Semerad 6, Sara 2, Solera 1, Cabanag 0, Mocon 0, Abude 0

Lyceum 68 – Zamora 14, Ko 13, Mbbida 12, Bulawan 10, Gabayni 8, Maconocido 5, Lesmoras 2, Taladua 2, Elmejrab 2, Baltazar 0, Soliman 0

Quarterscores: 14-18; 31-27; 53-43; 84-68