Manila: Defending champion San Beda University limited the big guns of San Sebastian College-Recoletos to escape with an 85-75 win in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 100 men’s basketball tournament at Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Saturday.
Rookie Bryan Sajonia scored a career-high 26 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, as the Red Lions secured their second win in three outings.
He also had eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block, while skipper Yulkien Andrada fired five triples to finish with 21 points on top of 11 rebounds.
San Sebastian’s Rafael Are and Tristan Felebrico were both limited to only nine points.
‘We were able to do a decent job in terms of limiting their strengths, turnover points, fastbreak points and second chance points,’ San Beda coach Yuri Escueta said.
While he is happy with the win, Escueta noted their poor free-throw shooting after converting just 15 of 38 attempts compared to 11-of-24 in the previous game.
‘Lot of thi
ngs to improve on. We gave time during our last practice shooting free throws. It’s just that we need to get used to shooting free throws in real life,” he said.
‘The pressure and the atmosphere in an NCAA game are different. It’s something you can’t do in practice. In practice, nobody’s watching.’
Reggz Gabat finished with 19 points and three rebounds while Raymart Escobido contributed 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals for San Sebastian, which absorbed in first loss after nipping Lyceum of the Philippines, 95-93, on Wednesday. (PNA)
Source: Philippines News Agency