Lions surge on; Stags rebound

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda shrugged off a shaky start before stamping its class on St. Benilde, 89-70, to open its second round on a positive note yesterday in the 86th NCAA seniors basketball tourney at the Arena.

After sweeping the first round capped by an 88-76 mangling of San Sebastian last week, the Red Lions entered the court quite lethargic, allowing the Blazers to race ahead to an 11-point margin but picked up their game in the next three periods to go 9-0.

“We started soft. It’s really so hard to match the intensity of our game against San Sebastian and it showed in the first quarter. That’s not us. We couldn’t even match the intensity of Benilde in the first,” said SBC coach Frankie Lim, whose wards trailed the Blazers, 12-23.

The SSC Golden Stags earlier got back on the winning groove by ripping hapless Emilio Aguinaldo College, 81-63, to stay close behind SBC at 8-1.

Jake Pascual and Jaypee Mendoza combined for 20 points as the Red Lions uncorked a 29-16 blast in the second to wrest the lead at 44-39.

From there, PBA rookie draft aspirant Borgie Hermida fired all his nine points in the third as the Mendiola-based cagers took the game away from the Blazers’ reach.

Sudan Daniel pulled off another double-double for the frontrunning San Beda with 14 markers and 14 rebounds plus six blocks, while Anthony Semerad and Jaypee Mendoza added 12 apiece.

Benilde, which dropped to 2-7, was led by Carlo Lastimosa with 19 and Jan Tan with 12.

The Stags, beaten by the Lions the last time out, played with a lot more energy and urgency, posting huge leads of as many as 34 points against the Generals, 69-35, with Edward Semira and Calvin Abueva on the spearhead.

“Our loss to San Beda served as an eye-opener for us. We saw our mistakes against the better prepared, hungrier and more aggressive Lions. After that game, we reverted back to our old hard practice sessions like we did last year and the results showed today,” said SSC coach Ato Agustin.

Realizing how he needed to utilize his bench more in the runup to the playoffs, Agustin fielded in second unit guard Edward Semira in his first 5 and made Calvin Abueva a starter against the Generals (2-7).

And Semira rose to the challenge, norming a new career-best 17 points built around four triples even as Abueva posted his seventh double-double this season at 16 markers and 15 rebounds.

“It’s already the second round and so we need to use our bench more,” said Agustin. “I told Semira and Abueva that I’ll start them today, just do your job and show your talent and they responded. “

Anthony Del Rio backed Semira and Abueva with 19 points spiked by three treys, including 13 in the second in which he nearly matched the Generals’ total output (19).

Emilian Vargas and Lowell Yaya led the way for EAC with 16 and 10 points, respectively, while Argel Mendoza returned from sick bay with nine markers, seven boards and four feeds.