MANILA – San Beda University Red Lions leaned on the exploits of Jeramer Cabanag to score a lopsided 91-70 win over Gilas Pilipinas in the 2018 Fil Oil Premier Cup at San Juan Arena.
Cabanag, a Bacolod City native, finished with 15 points, including victory clinching baskets in the fourth quarter, for Red Lions, which improved to second place in Group A (2-1).
Rookie James Canlas top-scored with 16 points while Donald Tankoua added 13 in the Sunday night game.
Red Lions will have a one-month break before returning to action in the tournament.
“We’re happy way we played well. I did challenge them that their character will be tested on how we will come back from a 1-point loss against Ateneo kasi we had a good chance of winning that game,” said Red Lions head coach Boyet Fernandez.
Holding to a slim 20-15 lead in the first period, Red Lions started to pull away in the second period for a 45-30 halftime edge. It even went up to as high as 31 points 78-47 on a Calvin Oftana basket.
Gilas answered back with an 11-0 scoring run to cut the deficit but Cabanag and Canlas came up with important conversions to put the game from within reach.
Carl Tamayo top-scored with 13 points while Kobe Paras and Rodolfo Alejandro had 11 markers apiece for Gilas (0-3). Ricci Rivero remained iffy for the national team with 9 points.
Meanwhile Ateneo Blue Eagles kept its unbeaten slate with a 100-72 victory over University of the Philippines Maroons. Anton Asistio finished with 14 points for Blue Eagles./PN
