Late-game roar

DONALD Tankoua (left) and San Beda roar to their 14th straight win. JOAQUIN FLORES

San Beda University needed a strong fourth-quarter rally to carve out a 75-62 victory over University Perpetual Help System Dalta to stretch its unbeaten record to 14 games in Season 95 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Calvin Oftana and Donald Tankoua keyed the Red Lions’ surge in the final period to repeat against the Altas whom they drubbed in their first meeting by 46 points, 102-46.

Tankoua finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and added 12 rebounds and two blocks as San Beda clinched at least a playoff for the twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four round.

Oftana also dished out 17 points and nine rebounds while James Canlas contributed 16 markers.

But the win hardly impressed Red Lions head coach Boyet Fernandez as the pesky Altas pushed them to the brink in the first three periods of the contest.

“It was not really us who played today. I hope my players realized this. It’s really hard to win if your feet are not on the ground right now. I have been always telling my boys to be humble and play our game,” Fernandez said.

“We cannot win a championship with the way we played today. Hopefully, we will learn from this. It’s not a 46-point win but as long as we win, it all matters to me,” he added.

The Red Lions can clinch the twice-to-beat bonus with a win over Letran college in their next game.

Unlike in their first-round meeting, San Beda was pushed to the limit by Perpetual, which even took a 33-29 lead on Jielo Razon’s three-pointer before settling for a 33-31 advantage going to the break.

The Red Lions got their bearings in the third period and with Tankoua and Oftana getting help from Evan Nelle and Clint Dominguez, the defending champions took the lead, 50-46, after first three quarters.

San Beda opened the final period with a 9-0 blast capped by Oftana’s three-pointer to erect a 59-46 spread with 6:44 remaining.

The Altas responded with its own mini-run, cutting the lead to 53-62, but the Red Lions took the game for good with another 8-0 swing punctuated by AC Soberano’s triple, 70-53, 2:10 left in the game.

Kim Aurin paced Perpetual with 13 points and nine rebounds while Ben Adamso chipped in 12 points and 10 boards. Razon and Rey Peralta contributed 12 and 11 markers, respectively for the Altas, who dropped to 3-9 in the team standings.