FilOil: San Beda Red Lions throttle upstart LPU

The upstart Lyceum Pirates have been one of the surprises of the FilOil Flying V Tournament, riding a very respectable 2-1 record into today’s game. But when matched up against the cream of the NCAA, the upset-minded Pirates were overmatched at every turn, falling to the San Beda Red Lions, 80-56, on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
 

The win gives the defending NCAA champions a perfect 4-0 record in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Tournament, tying them with the idle FEU at the top of Group B. The loss drops LPU to an even 2-2 record and into third place in their grouping.
 

San Beda forward Arthur Dela Cruz used his versatile talents off the dribble to draw favorable matchups within the offense en route to a 17 point, eight rebound performance.
 

The matchup in the middle between veteran Ola Adeogun and Lyceum’s rookie Joseph Gabayani was a onesided affair. After posting impressive performances in his first three games, Gabayani drew the unenviable assignment against the Nigerian center, and was held to his worst performance of the tournament, finishing with just eight points and five rebounds before fouling out in just 15 minutes. Adeogun had no problem finding offense against the rotation of young Pirate big men, which includes  Gabayani, Christian Pamulaklakin and Jeb Bulawan, as the trio combined for 13 fouls.

Adeogun finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds in 23 minutes.
 

The lone bright spot for the Pirates was forward Guy Mbida who lit up the Red Lions for a game-high 26 points, 12 of which came from behind the three-point line. No other Pirate scored in double figures. 
 

San Beda didn’t allow LPU to mount a comeback after taking a double-digit first quarter lead and turned the third quarter into a highlight reel for their players. After fouling out Gabayani with 6:49 left in the period, in what can only be described as an awkward coast-to-coast attempt, Adeogun finished a fastbreak feed from Baser Amer with a thunderous dunk that threatened to bring down the recently reinforced rim.
 

“We have heard that they will be one of the better teams in the NCAA. Winning against them in FilOil will give us confidence when we play them in the NCAA. We know they have a very good coach and very good players,” said San Beda head coach Boyet Fernandez. - JDL, GMA News


The scores:
 

SBC 80 - Dela Cruz 17, Adeogun 16, Semerad 11, Abarcar 8, Koga 5, Pascual 5, Mendoza 4, Cabanag 4, Amer 3, Solera 2, Bonsuere 2, Villaruz 2, Abatayo 1

LPU 56 - Mbida 26, Gabayani 8, Ko 5, Zamora 4, Bulawan 3, Lacastesantos 3, Soliman 3, Azores 2, Maconocido 1, Evangelista 1