San Sebastian College-Recoletos notched its first win in NCAA Season 99 after trampling Arellano University, 111-86, on Saturday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Despite playing in only his second collegiate game, rookie Mark De Leon came through in a huge way as he produced 16 points in the first half alone.
Meanwhile, veterans Rafael Are and Raymart Escobido steadily followed.
Head Coach John Kallos praised his troops for responding after a tough loss to Mapua in their opening game.
“Sobrang saya namin to get the first win. [Our] players responded well, everybody responded well. From the coaches to the players, we followed our game plan. For me it is my first win in the NCAA,” said Kallos.
Manned inside the interior by Sumoda, the Stags went up by as much as 13 points early in the second quarter, 30-17. At the half, San Sebastian controlled the painted area, outscoring the Chiefs 34-22.
After the resumption, the Chiefs cut down the San Sebastian lead to six, 69-63.
However, after a heated moment between Arellano forward Joshua Dela Cruz and Alex Desoyo, San Sebastian charged on a 14-3 scoring salvo to end the third quarter with a 17-point lead, 83-66.
“Nag-materialize lang 'yung running game namin. Our system is running so nakuha lang namin yung points namin through that. Then yung respect ng bawat player ng team ko, they responded well,” voiced Kallos.
(Our running game materialized. Our system is running so we got our points through that, then players respected each other. They responded well.)
From there, Kallos’ squad dominated in the last canto, outgunning the Chiefs until the final buzzer, 111-86.
The Golden Stags will look to build off their breakthrough win when they face the Lyceum University Pirates on Tuesday, October 3 while the Chiefs play the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA on the same day.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
