SAN Beda narrowly escaped the upset scare from St. Benilde as it held on to the 67-63 victory Tuesday in the NCAA Season 97 seniors basketball tournament at La Salle Greenhills.
San Beda vs St. Benilde recap
The Red Lions lost grip of a 12-point lead, 63-51, in the last 4:56 as Ladis Lepalam carried the Blazers on his back to tie the game at 63 with a hook in the last 1:16.
Lucky for San Beda, James Kwekuteye drained the big trey with 51.7 seconds left to give his team the lead back.
Lady luck truly smiled the Red Lions' way after Robi Nayve fumbled all of his three free throws off a JB Bahio foul with 6.9 ticks remaining, leading to Peter Alfaro icing the game with a split in the last 2.9 seconds.
Kwekuteye paced San Beda with 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting from deep, to go with 10 rebounds and three steals to once again lead the charge for San Beda.
Rookie Jacob Cortez stepped up with seven points, two boards, and two assists, as five more players scored at least six points in the Red Lions win.
San Beda bounced back from its bitter 68-54 loss to Mapua on Saturday to hike its record to 7-1 ahead of its collosal Finals rematch against Letran on Friday.
Save for those missed freebies, Nayve had a solid outing for St. Benilde with his 14 points, while first-year center Ladis Lepalam got 12 points and four boards.
Will Gozum also saw his double-double effort with 10 points and 13 rebounds go down the drain as the Blazers finished the eliminations with a 5-4 record.
Still, St. Benilde will play as the fourth-ranked team in the play-in tournament which starts on Sunday.
The Scores:
SAN BEDA 67 -- Kwekuteye 13, Cortez 7, Bahio 6, Penuela 6, Jopia 6, Ynot 6, Cuntapay 6, Cometa 5, Andrada 5, Abuda 4, Gallego 2, Alfaro 1, Amsali 0, Visser 0.
ST. BENILDE 63 -- Nayve 14, Lepalam 12, Cullar 10, Gozum 10, Carlos 9, Benson 6, Publico 2, Lim 0, Flores 0, Marcos 0, Sangco 0, Corteza 0, Tateishi 0.
Quarters: 16-13, 37-27, 57-44, 67-63.
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