Roaring Lions mute Bombers, gain turf

San Beda, which closed out its last year’s campaign in the NCAA cage wars with a whimper, opened its bid this season with a bang.

Lacing their dreaded motion offense with a solid defensive game, the Red Lions routed the Jose Rizal Heavy Bombers, 69-51, yesterday to seize the solo lead in Season 80 of the NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Alex Angeles whipped up his own storm with 16 points, 12 of them coming from behind the three-point arc as the Red Lions sealed a second straight victory that further underscored their bid to end a 26-year title drought.

But San Beda coach Nash Racela quickly downplayed their fine start.

"I kept reminding the boys of what happened last year when the team started it out well but finished bad," said Racela, who is currently one of Chot Reyes’ assistants at Coca-Cola in the PBA and who steered the Batangas Blades to the 2001 title in the defunct MBA.

"So I told them 2-0 is nothing and the season is just starting," added the younger brother of San Miguel Beer guard Olsen Racela.

Jose Rizal brandished the same motion offense San Beda employed but just could not get the same result mainly because of the absence of the prolific tandem of Marco Fajardo and Edward Attunaga.

Fajardo, a member of last year’s Mythical First Team, failed to see action with an ankle injury he sustained in his team’s 72-61 win over host Perpetual Help last Saturday, while Attunaga was sidelined by a knee injury.

San Beda pounced on the duo’s absence and raced to a 12-3 start, never giving Jose Rizal a chance to recover with Angeles constantly draining the outside shots.

In the other game, Robert Sanz exploded with 25 points as Philippine Christian University edged St. Benilde, 68-66 for a 1-1 card.

It was the Blazers’ second straight setback.