Lanete powers Red Lions past pesky Cardinals

Garvo Lanete scattered a season-high 30 points to power San Beda to a 90-78 win over pesky Mapua in the 86th NCAA men's basketball tournament on Wednesday at The Arena in San Juan City. Lanete played the fireman's role scoring 13 for the Red Lions in a blistering fourth quarter rally that douse cold water on the Cardinals' spirited comeback and in the process stretched San Beda's unblemished run to 12. The win also moved the Frankie Lim-coached San Beda crew within four games of completing a rare 16-game sweep of the double-round eliminations and clinching one of the top two spots that enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four. "Garvo was just excellent. He played the role of a fireman," said Lim of his veteran guard. "He played a monster game." But sweeping the elimination round, said Lim, is a tough feat to achieve with San Beda’s heavy schedule ahead. Following their fifth consecutive win over Mapua, the Mendiola-based squad will next face Arellano on September 17, Jose Rizal University on September 20, Letran on September 24 and will once again close out their campaign against defending champion San Sebastian on September 29. "It's going to be a tough schedule for us," said Lim. "We're used to playing once-a-week and with this schedule we'll have four games in two weeks." Mapua, behind the combined efforts of Allan Mangahas, Erwin Cornejo and Jason Pascual, came back from 16 points down and cut San Beda’s lead to 68-61. But Lanete was there to bail the Lions out of trouble. Lanete sank a jumper then followed it up with a three-pointer to push the lead back to double-digits, 73-61, and zap the fight out of the Cardinals. The younger brother of PBA cager Chico Lanete tallied 22 points in the second half. Also contributing were Jake Pascual with 13 points and nine rebounds, Sudan Daniel posting 11 points and four rebounds and Rome dela Rosa, who registered 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes, the same amount of time logged by Lanete. San Beda played sans pro-bound guard Borgie Hermida (slight fever) and JP Mendoza (back pain). Mangahas paced the Cardinals, who fell to a 7-5 record, with 22 points while Cornejo and Pascual added 16 and 10 markers each. Mapua also played minus coach Chito Victolero, who was ejected for excessive complaining, and guard Andretti Stevens, who twisted his left ankle while guarding Mar Villahermosa. Both happened in the third period. Mapua's loss allowed Letran to cut the Cardinals' lead to two games after the Knights' 90-61 crushing of winless Perpetual Help in the curtain raiser. Letran, which improved to a 5-7 slate, drew 16 points and seven rebounds from bruiser Junjun Alas as he led the Knights’ scoring in the absence of younger brother Kevin Alas, who was nursing a fever. "It's not in our hands anymore," said Letran mentor Louie Alas, whose worst stint as coach of the Muralla-based squad was a 7-7 record. Aloy Taplah tallied 14 points while veteran center Jam Cortes registered 13 markers and 15 rebounds. Franz Dysam and Jaypee Belencion finished with 12 points each. The Altas fell to a dismal 0-12 card, suffering their 21st straight loss dating back to the start of last season's second round. In the high school division, San Beda leaned on Baser Amer's triple-double performance in turning back hard-fighting Mapua, 93-83, to near its goal of clinching the twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four. Amer, playing in his last season, registered 24 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds to propel the Cubs to their 11th win against a loss while sending the Robins to their sixth setback against the same number of wins. Perpetual Help, meanwhile, snapped Letran's amazing eight-game winning streak with a 72-69 triumph to force a three-way logjam at second place with its recent victim and San Sebastian on identical 8-4 records. – JVP, GMANews.TV