San Sebastian Stags Beat The San Beda Red Lions in NCAA Season 87 August 19, 2011 First Round Game: Well Balanced Scoring Stopped the 26 Game Winning Streak of San Beda

The San Sebastian Stags have just broken the 26 game winning streak of the San Beda Red Lions in the NCAA Men's Basketball that started last October 2010. The final score in this first round win of San Sebastian against San Beda is 70-68. As what was expected prior to this big game, all of the star players of both teams delivered, but Baste's second stringers such as Lyle Antipuesto and Michael Miranda stepped up and in effect they boosted the bench scoring of the Stags. They helped the Big 3 of Baste (Abueva, Pascual and Sangalang) nail this first round win against the Red Lions.

The Stags had a well balanced scoring all throughout this game, but it was Ronald Pascual who notched the biggest output for his team. Pascual had 23 points and 7 rebounds. Right behind him in scoring was "The Beast" Calvin Abueva who had 21 points and 8 rebounds. Ian Sangalang also made some crucial baskets as he pitched in 9 points and 8 rebounds. On top of his 9 points, he also did a solid job in defending against the big boys of San Beda such as Kyle Pascual and Dave Marcelo. He was able to limit Kyle Pascual to a single digit output.

As what I was mentioning in the first paragraph, Michael Miranda and Lyle Antipuesto provided some bench scoring for the Stags to help their Big 3. Lyle made a crucial 3 pointer in the earlier part of the 4th quarter to cut down the lead of San Beda and aside from that big three-pointer he also made a great outlet pass to the streaking Ronald Pascual for a free lay-up. He passed the ball as if he was a quarter back in football. It was a pretty pass that was accurately on point. Even Mr. Allan Gregorio, one of the commentators, praised the nice pass that Lyle made. Miranda on the other hand had a dismal scoring night but his points came when his team needed them the most. More than his timely scoring and aggressiveness, he made some crucial defensive plays that sealed the win for the Stags. The 6'5 Miranda did a masterful job in out-hustling San Beda's Kyle Pascual in getting the offensive rebound out of Dave Marcelo's desperation shot in the last 3 seconds of the 4th quarter. Miranda was able to secure the ball. The buzzer sounded while he was hugging the spheroid. The whole San Sebastian team stood up and they ran all over the court as if they already won the championship. But I can't blame them, they've just stopped the seemingly insurmountable 26 game-winning streak of San Beda.

The Stags are now on top of the team standings with a 9-0 win-loss record while the Red Lions goes down in the second spot with an 8-1 win-loss record.

With this big win of San Sebastian, Coach Topex Robinson praised the fine showing of his players. He said that:

“I told my players that this is not about the big three (Calvin Abueva, Ronald Pascual and Ian Sangalang. This is about everyone. We know that these three will put their hearts out, but what’s important is the other guys. I believe in them because they are also good players. Maganda nga at nandun si Miranda sa ilalim.”

Meanwhile for San Beda, they will have to go back to the drawing board. I'm sure coach Frakie Lim already knows what to do with their lapses in this game. He even pointed it out in his post game interview. He said that:

"It all boils down to poor executions. There were two plays down the stretch that were meant for Garvo (Lanete), di nakaabot sa kanya."

But despite their poor execution of plays, Garvo Lanete still scored 18 points. Dave Marcelo added in 15 points to help the cause of San Beda. But unfortunately, they still lost to San Sebastian.