BISMARCK Lina had his coming out party at San Beda on Saturday, towing the defending NCAA men’s basketball champion to a vengeful 79-65 win over Arellano University in the Season 100 men’s basketball tournament at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The former Gilas Pilipinas Youth member tallied 20 points and seven rebounds in his best game yet since donning the red and white jersey, or just three games since officially joining the Red Lions’ official roster for the season.
Lina’s inside domination sparked San Beda’s full breakaway in the third period on its way to getting back at the Chiefs, who ambushed the reigning titlists in their first round meeting, 72-70.
San Beda not seeing red
But coach Yuri Escueta said the Sept. 28 upset was not necessarily extra duel to the fire for the Red Lions to give Arellano a sound beating at the start of their second round campaign.
“Hindi naman extra (motivation). We just stick to the same game plan and the keys that we have to check out after that first round game. So I think we did a better job today,” said one of the deputy coaches of TNT Tropang Giga.
“One addition lang that I told them (Red Lions) is that we have to respect yung opponent natin. Sa tingin ko we were taking them lightly, e,” added Escueta. “So sabi ko kaysa gantihan natin, respetuhin lang natin.”
Yukien Andrada was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points and the vastly-improved Jomel Puno had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds for San Beda, which improved to a 7-3 record with its fourth straight win.
The Red Lions, whose biggest lead against the Chiefs was at 68-41 in the fourth quarter, also moved a full game behind idle leader College of St. Benilde (7-2).
The Chiefs couldn’t approximate the same fighting spirit they did in upending the defending champions in their first meeting, as they fell behind early, 23-16, and trailed 41-29 at the half.
Big man Lorenz Capulong had 16 points and five rebounds, while Tmc Ongotan added 10 and six boards for Arellano, which fell to a 3-7 record.
The scores:
SAN BEDA 79 - Lina 20, Andrada 15, Puno 14, Sajonia 8, Payosing 7, Gonzales 4, RC Calimag 3, Songcuya 3, P. Estacio 2, Richi Calimag 2, Tagle 1, Celzo 0, Bonzalida 0, Royo 0, Sollano 0.
ARELLANO 65 - Capulong 16, Ongotan 10, Valencia 9, Vinoya 6, Geronimo 5, Borromeo 4, Flores 4, Camay 2, Abiera 2, Libang 2, De Leon 2, Acop 2, X. Estacio 1, Hernal 0, Miller 0.
Quarters: 23-16; 41-29; 65-41; 79-65.
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