San Beda College-Manila roughed up San Sebastian College-Recoletos, 85-69, on June 13 to become the king of the Nike Summer League seniors division jungle in the finals held at the Ynares Sports Arena.
The Red Lions limited San Sebastian to six points in the fourth period, while they scored the final nine points of the game to wrap up the tournament without a loss. At the same time, they had to endure a highly physical contest from their fellow NCAA member school.
"Talagang pursugido iyong mga players," beamed SBC-M head coach Frankie Lim. "We want to make a statement for the opening of the NCAA. This is a good statement."
Garvo Lanete and Bam Gamalinda shared topscoring honors with an equal output of 16 points. Gamalinda added seven rebounds and three assists.
Jake Pascual contributed 15 markers and five boards as Jessmar Villahermosa and MVP Sudan Daniels added 12 points apiece.
Joining the American import in the Mythical Team are teammate JR Tecson, Jimbo Aquino of SSC-R, Reymar Gutilban of Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and RR Garcia of Far Eastern University.
The Lions took home medals, a handsome trophy, plus P200,000 in cash prize and a P30,000 gift certificate from GNC.
"Medyo nabatak kami," Lim observed. "We accumulated a lot of games coming from our US trip. The conditioning in our US trip helped."
He pointed out that they played five tough games the past week including this one.
Aquino topped the Golden Stags with 18 points, while Dave Najorda dished in 12 markers and seven caroms.
Lim though downplayed in what can be a possible finals scenario between his team and Stags the coming NCAA basketball season.
"Nagkataon lang," he mentioned.
The Mendiola-based squad put up some elbow room in the midpoint of the second period in a 7-0 spurt, 39-29, with all three field goals scored inside the paint. Daniels started the rally, receiving a high arching pass for an easy basket. Pascual then drove in for a layup followed by Villahermosa stealing the ball off Raymond Maconocido for a coast-to-coast transition lay in.
The spread ballooned to 12 at the start of the second half, 53-41, courtesy of a Pascual followup. The Recto-based squad crept back to within two as Jonathan Semira beat the third quarter buzzer with a three-pointer, 63-65.
That was all to it though as San Beda worked an 8-0 blast to begin the payoff period with Lanete providing the bookend buckets.
"They have to be tough. We have to play that way," Lim commented on the physical play of SSC-R. "Huwag lang kayo magpa-agrabyado. They (SSC-R) self-destructed (in their own brand of play)."
The matchup between Maconocido and Villahermosa was the sidelight as they went tit-for-tat, acting and reacting from the cheapshots they were giving each other. Late in the fourth, Gilbert Bulawan had the wind knocked out of him in a rebound play.
