Stags this time leave nothing to chance

San Sebastian College made sure there would be no miracle shot this time as it repulsed a gritty Jose Rizal University side, 73-65, yesterday in the 80th NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Reserves Venancio Rebuya and Red Vicente combined for 15 of their team’s last 19 points, sparking the Stags to several 10-point leads down the stretch en route to their fifth victory in eight games.

Still smarting from that two-point loss to the Heavy Bombers on a buzzer-beating trey by Wynsjohn Te last July 21, the Recoletos-based dribblers used their height and heft advantage to the hilt to seize control in the second quarter before foiling Jose Rizal’s repeated rallies down the stretch.

Unlike in their first meeting where the Bombers out-rebounded the Stags, 43-29, the SSC quintet crashed the boards with authority, grabbing 55 as against their victims’ 32.

JRU’s Marco Fajardo exploded with 26 points, including 18 on triples, but the Stags negated this by converting 7-of-20 attempts from beyond the arc.

"The boys distributed the ball well," said SSC coach Arturo Valenzona. "Hopefully, our offense and defense will help us on our goal of a twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four." — Nathan Lee

Chris Baluyot led the Stags’ charge with 16 points while Rebuya and Michael Gonzales added 14 each. Pep Moore scored 10 and pulled down nine rebounds.

The SSC bench, led by Rebuya and Vicente, also stepped up as it outscored its JRU counterparts, 30-14, to make up for last year’s MVP Leo Najorda’s mediocre game. Najorda struggled for 1-of-9 shooting.

Te scored 11 points for the Heavy Bombers, who fell to a 3-5( win-loss).