Altas shackle Knights, fuel semis bid

MANILA, Philippines – San Beda battled back from 22 points down and overpowered Arellano U in the second half to carve out a 101-86 victory last night to remain unbeaten in the 92nd NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Cameroonian Donald Tankoua poured in 15 of his 28 points in the third quarter while Fil-Am Davot Potts took charge in the fourth, firing 11 of his career-high 31 markers as they powered the Red Lions to their sixth straight victory.

It was a big windup for the Mendiola-based squad, who struggled in the early going and fell by 22, 14-36, on a triple by Arellano top gun Jio Jalalon.

But the Lions recovered their bearing late in the second, closing the gap at 37-47 at the break before Tankoua buckled down to work and presided over the Lions’ attack while dominating the boards that set up a series of San Beda fastbreaks.

They forced a tie at 72 at the end of third then Potts took over and hit clutch baskets while the rest back them up with a pesky defense that took the fight out of the Chiefs.

Led by Jalalon’s 25 points, Arellano fell to 3-2 in a tie with Perpetual Help, which earlier stopped Letran, 61-55.

The Altas clamped down on defense when their offense sputtered and foiled the Knights to get back on the Final Four track.

Bright Akhuetie put in another double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds with three shot blocks while Gab Dagangon and Jeffrey Coronel chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Altas, who overcame their shooting woes with a tough defensive stance all throughout.

In the second game, reigning MVP Allwell Oraeme came through with 13 points, 22 rebounds and five shot blocks as Mapua trounced San Sebastian, 88-75, to improve to 5-1.

The Stags fell to 1-4.

The Las Pinas-based cagers held the Knights to their season-worst output and forced the defending champions to 22 turnovers after coming into the game averaging 79.62 points and 16.2 errors.

The Altas also alternated in slowing down Rey Nambatac, who missed eight of his 14 shots and four of his seven free throws. The prolific Knight still finished with 19 points, although way below his career-high 40-point burst in powering Letran to a 90-77 romp over San Sebastian last week.

“We made a conscious effort to really make it hard for them to score,” said Perpetual coach Gimwell Gican.

The Altas thus improved to 3-2 in a victory that more than made up for their embarrassing 70-88 defeat to the San Beda Lions last Tuesday where Akhuetie was benched the whole of fourth quarter.

“My job is to play. When I go in there, I try my best. It’s basketball, everyone should get chances,” said the 19-year-old Akhuetie. “My teammates kept on saying to me that ‘we should get this, we should get this.

“They did not stop pushing me that’s why I wanted to give my best to make them happy,” he added.

The Knights, who racked up four straight wins after an opening day loss to the San Beda Lions, fell to 4-2.