Caram, Red Lions Down Tamaraws In FMC

When the chips were down, the San Beda College Red Lions turned to their veteran floor general to carry them through.

Anjo Caram buried back-to-back triples to stymie a Far Eastern University Tamaraws rally and then hit the insurance freethrow to give the reigning Fr. Martin Collegiate Open Cup champions the breathing room they needed, as San Beda won 74-72, Saturday at the Trinity University of Asia gym.

After an and-one play by Rome Dela Rosa gave the Red Lions a comfortable 64-53 lead at the early phase of the fourth quarter, Terrence Romeo, Carl Bryan Cruz, and former De La Salle Green Archer Arvie Bringas engineered a 9-1 blast that got them within three, 65-62, as bad execution by San Beda, including turnovers by Fil-Am Julius Armon, killed their momentum.

But after Romeo struck in transition, San Beda came down the floor and got a triple by Caram at the 3:41 mark to make it a six-point game. Two misses by last season's UAAP runners-up sandwiched an error by Dela Rosa, but on the next possession by the Red Lions, Caram once again struck from downtown, making it a nine-point gam with 2:32 remaining on the clock.

Off an FEU timeout, many thought the ball would go to Romeo for a quick triple response. Instead, the former UAAP rookie of the year acted as the decoy to good effect, as he found big man Russel Escoto for the pull-up jumper. Bringas then came up with a steal as the Red Lions tried to get the ball across the halfcourt line in a hurry. Cris Tolomia muffed the layup, but Bringas himself scored on the putback, 1:49 left.

Another errant Red Lions pass gave possession back to FEU, and this time, Romeo launched a long bomb. Though it missed, Bringas once again was there for the repossession, this time banking the shot back off the glass to make it a three-point game, 71-68.

Forced to call timeout, the Red Lions forced power forward Jake Pascual into a miss, but Escoto was whistled for a rebounding foul, giving possession back to San Beda as they were not in the penalty yet. The extra look at the basket led to a long jumper by sophomore Baser Amer, who had been benched for the majority of the second half after some early turnovers, 73-68.

Now down to just 43.5 seconds, a driving Romeo connected on his shot, restoring the three-point margin. This time Caram was offline, but instead of playing for the tie, Romeo opted to zip the ball to Bringas for the quick two.

With 2.8 seconds remaining, the Tamaraws put Caram to the line, where the diminutive point guard split his charities. With a chance to win the game, Romeo threw up a prayer at about the halfcourt line, but the shot was off to the left of the hoop, to the delight of the Red Lions.

Rome Dela Rosa was a consistent force on offense, scoring in each quarter for a total of 16 markers. Julius Armon could not connect on his outside shot, but still managed to put together 14 points. Caram finished with 11, seven coming in the game's pivotal last moments.

San Beda seemed dominant early, building a 26-15 lead at the start of the second quarter on a split by Nigerian Ola Adeogun. On the ensuing play, Armon was able to come up with a steal and had the lane for a breakaway dunk, but the highflyer was pushed in mid-air by Romeo, resulting in the latter getting slapped with an unsportsmanlike foul. But the Red Lions were unable to capitalize, as the fiery newcomer also got a split and then was whistled for an offensive foul.

A 20-4 run over the second and third quarters, on the back of 13 Romeo points, gave FEU their first taste of the lead, 44-43.

San Beda countered with a triple by Melo Lim and a spin move by Jake Pascual, only to have the score knotted behind consecutive makes by Bringas, 48-48. That was when Armon took over, scoring six points and assisting on two of an 11-2 run that gave his squad a 59-50 lead with a quarter to play.

Minus RR Garcia, FEU still got some big production, specifically from Terrence Romeo, who scored 25 points, 13 in the second quarter, and Bringas, who finished with 21, 11 in the final period. Other than the two though, no other Tamaraw scored more than six points.

The win advances the Red Lions to the semifinals and a clash with Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights. That game will be next Sunday, February 19, also at the Trinity University of Asia gym.

The scores:

SBC 74 - Dela Rosa 16, Armon 14, Caram 11, Adeogun 8, J. Pascual 6, Lim 5, K. Pascual 4, Amer 4, Sorela 4, Koga 2

FEU 72 - Romeo 25, A. Bringas 21, Cruz 6, Escoto 4, Sentcheu 4, Belo 3, Inigo 3, Pogoy 2, Jumao-as 2, Tolomia 1, Hargrove 1

Quarter-scoring: 24-15, 41-38, 59-50, 74-72

source: GMA News