Lions, Bulldogs prime up for Filoil quarters

MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion San Beda and National U downed Ateneo, 82-73, and Arellano U, 68-65, respectively, yesterday to gain momentum heading to the tough quarterfinal grind in the Filoil Flying V Premier Cup at The San Juan Arena.

The Lions drew strength from Donald Tankoua’s double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds and AC Soberano’s 15 markers, including five triples, to blast the Eagles and end up at No. 2 in Group B with a 6-1 record.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, leaned on the sweet-shooting Matt Salem, who also drilled in five treys for a 15-point output while Chino Mosqueda added 11 markers to seize the top seeding in Group A, also at 6-1.

San Beda thus forged a quarters duel with Arellano, which finished at No. 3 in Group A, while NU will take on Adamson, which edged University of the East, 84-82, to clinch the last ticket in the playoff round.

The other quarters pairings pit Group B No. 1 La Salle against Group A No. 4 Far Eastern U and Group A No. 2 Perpetual Help versus Group B No. 3 Ateneo.

Both San Beda and NU are gunning for a second crown in the country’s premier pre-season tournament.

While Tankoua is expected to sustain his imposing form in the quarters and beyond, the Lions also hope Soberano will stay hot with his sniping.

“He’s been pretty efficient the whole tournament. We will need him to keep it up in the NCAA,” said San Beda coach Jamike Jarin of Soberano, who has made a season-best 29 triples out of 48 attempts for a high 60.4 percent clip.

For NU, coach Eric Altamirano cited his wards’ all-out effort in controlling both boards.

“We made a conscious effort to improve on our rebounding because we did not do well in that department in our last game,” said Altamirano, whose charges had a total of 48 boards, including a game-high 16 by Alfred Aroga.

Fil-Am rookie Robbie Manalang drained six triples to finish with 21 points while Cherif Papi Sarr had 17 points and 18 caroms to help Adamson nail its fourth win against three defeats and a place in the quarters.

Frederick Tungcab hit five of six from the foul line to help fend off the Warriors’ late charge.

UE had a chance to steal the game but Edson Batiller missed a desperation triple at the buzzer.