Saints topple Red Lions in NCAA South cagefest

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion University of Perpetual Help-Laguna survived a near fourth quarter meltdown and James Panaligan’s torrid shooting to slip past host San Beda College Alabang, 82-79, Thursday in the NCAA South caging at the SBCA gym in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

In a riveting seesaw contest that went down the wire, the Saints leaned on Dave Sanchez’s driving lay-up and Rodolfo Baudi’s split charity in the last 9.1 seconds to pull off their fourth win in five outings while handing the Alabang Red Lions their first loss in five starts.

Sanchez topscored with 17 points while Filipino-Angolan Baudi added 12 in rallying the reigning titlists to victory.

“We prepared hard for this game and knew that San Beda’s guards would be its main weakness,” said Perpetual coach Chito Escudero after the close call. “But we relaxed in the endgame and so we nearly allowed them to steal the game.”

“This is exactly how University of Batangas beat us,” added Escudero, whose charges saw their own four-game winning streak snapped by the Brahmans, 71-81, last Sunday in the tournament sponsored by Chocolate Clothing, Philips Avent, Goody and Chefs Classics.

“We nearly had the game but allowed it to slip away from us,” said losing SBCA coach Aldrin Morante.