Lions roar on in Final Four warmup
Reigning champ San Beda showed its readiness for the NCAA Final Four with an 80-72 win over Perpetual Help in a preview of their semifinal matchup at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.
The Red Lions slowed down the Altas in the fourth quarter and eked out the victory that gave them a closing 17-1 win-loss record in the eliminations.
Cameroonian Donald Tankoua and senior Jeramer Cabanag combined for 16 points in the final quarter, leading the Lions’ charge from three points down at the start of the fourth period.
Tankoua showed up Prince Eze, coming through with 23 points on 10 of 16 clip from the field while holding down his Nigerian counterpart to just 12.
San Beda paid tribute to its graduating players – Cabanag, Robert Bolick, Javee Mocon, Jomari Presbitero and Ranbill Tongco – by starting them in the game.
Cabanag stood out among the five with a career-high 16 markers as the Lions repeated their 67-65 win over the Altas in the first round.
“It’s seniors’ day for us so we started them. It’s our way of saying thank you,” said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez.
The duel served as a preview of San Beda’s Final Four duel with Perpetual Help, which closed out the elims with an 11-7 (win-loss) mark, on Friday at the same venue. A do-ordie match if necessary is Monday.
The reigning back-to-back champions need just a win to advance to the best-of-three finals set to start Nov. 6 over at the MOA Arena. Earlier, San Sebastian routed Arellano U, 9163, to finish its campaign with a 6-12 card.
The Chiefs wound up with a 5-13 mark.