The Red Lions, bucking the absence of suspended forward Jake Pascual and an ineffective running game, trounced Jose Rizal U, 77-69, to move a win away from sweeping the first round of the 87th NCAA men’s caging at The Arena in San Juan.
Garvo Lanete drained in a game-high 23 points, including five triples, while big man Dave Marcelo scattered 13 points and eight rebounds for the Red Lions.
“Big game again by Marcelo and Lanete,” said SBC coach Frankie Lim.
The Lions missed Pascual due to suspension, losing the battle of the boards in the process, 36-42. Their fastbreak game was stymied too, five against JRU’s six.
“They didn’t give us our fastbreak points but now we know we can win on set (plays). Even if they play us zone, we’re gonna score. And this is the second game in a row that we got beat on rebounds. We felt the suspenson of Jake, we had a hard time off the boards,” Lim said.
“I think my guys are tired, too, playing their third game in 10 days and this nine-day break would help us a lot going to the San Sebastian game,” he added.
Jekster Apinan led JRU (2-5) with 16 markers and a game-high 16 boards. – Olmin Leyba