Depleted Red Lions open title defense vs Warriors

NCAA powerhouse San Beda hopes to make do with a smaller and younger roster as it kicks off its title defense against University of the East today in the FilOil Flying V Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan.

With Ola Adeogun, Baser Amer, Art dela Cruz and Ryusei Koga all gone, the Lions will be pinning their hopes on the likes of Ranbill Tongco, Jayvee Mocon and Donald Tankoua to fill the void.

Tongco is expected to take over Amer spot, Mocon will fill in for Dela Cruz while Tankoua, a Cameroonian, will have to step up in the absence of Adeogun.

“We lost practically our starting five. We have a bunch of new players, we got a ton of energy so we should be competitive coming into the NCAA season,” said coach Jamike Jarin, whose charges arrived last week from a training camp in Las Vegas.

Dan Sara is now the team’s skipper, according to Jarin, who will also bank on AC Soberano, La Salle transferee Robert Bolick, Davon Potts, Calvin Ofpana and high-leaping 6-3 Cameroonian Arnaud Noah.

San Beda will face a UE team that employs a full-court pressure defense from start to finish.

“As I’ve said, we’re a young team and we expect to run, run and run so the players should be ready,” said Jarin.

La Salle (2-0), meanwhile, seeks to keep the Group B lead as it takes on NCAA MVP Allwell Oraeme of Nigeria and the Mapua Cardinals (1-1) at 5 p.m.

It will mark the first time that the 6-9 Oraeme, one of the college basketball’s best defenders, will come face-to-face with La Salle’s 6-8 Ben Mbala of Cameroon.

Reigning NCAA champion Letran (1-1) and Adamson (1-2) clash in the only other seniors match at 1:30 p.m.

Pereptual Help is the league’s only other unbeaten squad with four wins in Group A while Arellano U and National U tote identical 3-1 marks and University of the Philippine posting two wins against a loss.

Tickets are available at the gate of the FilOil Flying V Center or through Ticketnet.