By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THERE was simply no stopping the San Beda Red Lions from completing a sweep of the elimination round of National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 95 after they defeated the second-running Lyceum Pirates, 85-62, on Thursday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Flexing their collective muscle anew, the Lions were a handful for the Pirates once they got their attack humming, leading to their 18 straight win in the ongoing season of the country’s oldest collegiate league.
The sweep, the second in three years in the NCAA, rendered the semifinals a step-ladder with defending champion San Beda going straight to the finale and will await its opponent for the best-of-three finals series among the three lower-seeded teams in the semifinals.
The contest got off to a fast start as both teams found their swing early.
They fought to a 7-6 count, and San Beda on top, with 7:17 to go in the opening frame before the Lions, led by Donald Tankoua and James Canlas, went on a 13-7 run in the next five minutes to build a 20-13 lead.
But the Pirates would finish strong on the lead of Jaycee Marcelino to narrow the gap, 20-17, at the end of the first period.
In the second quarter the Lions came our roaring, outscoring the Pirates, 19-6, to build a 39-23 lead midway.
They kept pouring it on Lyceum the rest of the frame to stay comfortably ahead, 48-36, at the halftime break.
The third quarter saw San Beda further steadying with leading most valuable candidate Calvin Oftana and Tankoua pouring on for their team on both ends.
Despite efforts by Lyceum to gain some ground back, the Lions remained ahead, 66-49, heading into the fourth quarter.
Comfortably ahead, San Beda went for the early closeout, stretching its lead to 23 points, 76-53, at the 6:05 mark.
From there on the Lions would not be threatened as they went on to close out the contest and made the elimination round sweep official.
Tankoua led the Lions with 26 points and eight rebounds, followed by Oftana with 18 points and 10 boards.
Canlas finished with 17 points while guard Evan Nelle dished out 10 assists to go along with nine rebounds and four points.
For Lyceum (13-5), which was the last team to sweep the eliminations back in Season 93, it was Marcelino who topscored with 17 while Jeff Santos had 12.
Pirates big man Mike Nzeusseu sat out the game because of injury.
In a step-ladder format, the third and fourth seeds battle in the initial step with the winner advancing to meet the second-seeded team in a knockout contest for the right to face San Beda in the finals, which will be a best-of-three affair.
In the first game, meanwhile, the Letran Knights (12-6) cemented their hold of the third spot heading into the semifinals by beating the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals, 87-79. Larry Muyang led the Knights with 22 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Jerrick Balanza with 20 and Bonbon Batiller with 15 points.
EAC, with the loss, ended their season with a 4-14 record. Graduating player Jethro Mendoza finished his NCAA career on a high, finishing with a career-high 26 points for the Generals.
