La Salle, San Beda force sudden death

Games tomorrow (The Arena, San Juan) 2 p.m. –

UAAP champion a Salle and NCAA titlist San Beda bounced back with lopsided victories over Far Eastern U, 80-60, and Southwestern U, 77-4 , respectively, yesterday sending the final semis playdate in the 12th Philippine Collegiate Champions eague into a pair of sudden death matches at The Arena in San uan City.

Stung by a loss to the Tams last Monday, the Red ions vented their ire on the upstart SWU Cobras, scoring a runaway victory while the Archers broke away in the second uarter to fashion out the easy win after bowing to the Cobras earlier.

All four teams thus posted 1-1 records heading to tomorrow s games with San Beda facing a Salle and FEU colliding with SWU. The winners will dispute the crown and the top P100,000 in a best-of-three series starting Monday.

Mat Salem fired a game-high 17 points, including three triples, while eron Teng bounced back from a mediocre seven-point outing with a 13-point performance.

Earlier, Nigerian Ola Adeogun overpowered fellow Africans andry San o and Fabrice Siewe and came away with 22 points to power the ions back into the title hunt after absorbing a stinging 56-62 loss to the Tams at the Blue Eagle Gym last Monday.

Adeogun also hauled down 11 rebounds, made three blocks and issued two assists, outplaying the e ually widebodied San o and Siewe, who combined for 22 points and nine boards.

I hate losing,” said the 6-7 Adeogun, member of the college basketball s mythical first team picked by sports scribes covering the beat that included a Salle s eron Teng, etran s Raymond Almazan, FEU s Terrence Romeo and National U s Bobby Ray Parks r.

And we never lost two in a row this year so we went out aggressively because we really want to win this game,” he added.

San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez, however, said defense did the trick as the ions shackled the Cobras top gunners, including reigning CESAFI M P Mark Tallo, Monbert Arong, Adams Mohammad and Daryl Holper.

The four ended up with a combined 12-point output after e ploding for 51 points in SWU s shock 68-58 triumph over UAAP titlist a Salle, also last Monday.

We knew SWU is a very dangerous team after beating a powerhouse team like a Salle so we made it a priority to shut their shooters down,” said Fernandez. I have to give credit to the players for getting the ob done.”

The win thus tied San Beda with its victim in the single round robin semis phase.

A win over a Salle in tomorrow s last semis playdate will net San Beda a berth in the best-of-three finals starting on Monday and a crack at a first ever championship in the annual event staking P100,000 to the champion.

The ayoy Alcoseba-mentored Cobras, seeking to become the first provincial team to win the annual event, also try to rebound from the blowout with a win over the Tams. The scores: First Game San Beda 77 – Adeogun 22, Pascual 14, dela Cruz 10, dela Rosa 8, A. Semerad 7, Amer 5, Sara 3, Ludovice 2, Villaruz 2, Mendoza 2, D. Semerad 1, Abatayo 1

SWU 49 – Sanjo 13, Siewe 9, Goloran 8, Mohammed 6, Bautista 3, Tallo 2, Ortega 2, Holper 2, Arong 2, Bregondo 2, Panerio 0 Quarterscores: 23-7; 37-24; 65-38; 77-49 Second Game La Salle 80 – Salem 17, Teng 13, Vosotros 11, Bollick 10, N. Torres 6, Tampus 5, Perkins 4, Reyes 4, T. Torres 3, dela Paz 3, Montalbo 2, Van Opstal 2

FEU 60 – Pogoy 14, Mendoza 14, Hargrove 12, Jose 7, Cruz 6, Tolomia 4, Luz 2, Agiolon 1, Inigo 0, Santcheu 0

Quarterscores: 21-16, 49-31, 67-41, 80-60