Red Lions visit Altas’ Las Piñas home turf
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Reporter
THE DEFENDING National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champions San Beda Red Lions go on tour today as they visit the home of the Perpetual Help Altas in Las Piñas in this week’s edition of the “NCAA on Tour” in Season 93.
Currently sporting a near-intact 6-1 record and winners of their last five games, the Lions are out to sustain their steady form in their 4 p.m. encounter against an Altas crew, which is coming off a big victory in its last game.
San Beda comes into the contest fresh from a 66-55 win over bottom-scraping Mapua Cardinals last Friday where Cameroonian big man Donald Tankoua, coming off an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury, had a breakout game.
The 6’6” Tankoua capitalized on the extended playing time given to him by Lions coach Boyet Fernandez to tally season-highs of 11 points and 16 rebounds.
This is apart from the stability he gave to San Beda’s attack while he was on the court as they dominated the Cardinals.
“Donald made the most out of his opportunities and we hope to slowly give him more minutes as the season progresses,” said Mr. Fernandez of his prized big man as they wrap their first-round assignments and begin the second.
Jayvee Mocon added 10 points while Davon Potts and Robert Bolick had eight and six points, respectively, in the easy win.
DEFEND HOME
Looking to defend its home against visiting San Beda is Perpetual Help, which won in its last game against the Arellano Chiefs just last Tuesday, 68-59.
Nigerian Prince Eze took front and center in the win as he unleashed a monster double-double of 23 points (career-high) and 21 rebounds to go along with five blocks.
The Altas needed to rely on their defense late in the game to pull off the win as the Chiefs made a spirited fight back in the second half after struggling early in the game.
GJ Ylagan also had a solid game for Perpetual Help with 11 points and eight rebounds while Gab Dagangon had 10 points and six boards.
“We knew we needed to really play tough defense to have a chance of making it to the Final Four and in this game, we did just that,” said Perpetual Help coach Jimwell Gican in the postgame press conference.
“Next for us is San Beda. Hopefully we can build on this victory,” added the coach, whose wards improved to 3-4 in the standings, good for joint fifth place with two other teams.
The NCAA on Tour is one of the notable changes for the league this season. It has the league holding games in the premises of member schools. The NCAA said the reason behind it is to bring the league closer to its various stakeholders, particularly the students, and to further enhance interest in the league among them. In holding the games on the road, the NCAA said it has made sure that the venues are at par with tournament standards and security is beefed up to guard the safety of the participants and spectators.
