Games Wednesday (The Arena, San Juan City)
10 a.m. — Perpetual vs JRU (Jrs)
12 noon — Letran vs MIT (Jrs)
2 p.m. — Perpetual vs JRU (Srs)
4 p.m. — Perpetual vs MIT (Srs)

San Beda College shrugged off a listless start to repeat over College of St. Benilde, 89-70, and stretch its unbeaten streak to nine on Monday in the 86th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

Struggling in the offensive end, the Red Lions found themselves trailing the Blazers by 11 points in the first quarter before coming through with a deluge of baskets in the second canto to take control of the game and keep their unbeaten record intact.

They also trounced the Blazers, 87-61, in the first round.

“We started soft. It’s hard to match the intensity of our game against San Sebastian last time. That’s not us, so I warned them that we should pick up our game,” said SBC coach Frankie Lim, referring to their mighty 88-76 triumph against the Stags last Wednesday.

Working behind a slick running game and powerful inside plays, San Sebastian College had little problem in beating Emilio Aguinaldo College, 81-63, in the first game.

The defending champions roared to a 15-point lead in the first half and never looked back on the way to posting the lopsided victory, which coach Ato Agustin credited to their hard practice.

It was their 8th win in nine games.

Carlo Lastimosa and Jan Tan exploded early, combining for 19 points in the first half as the Blazers took their biggest lead of the game, 23-12, late in the first period.

But the lead was wiped out in the in the face of a searing San Beda run in the second quarter as the Lions took control, 44-39, at halftime.

There was no stopping the Lions from there as they unleashed a furious fastbreak attack (21-9) that gave them a 13-point lead, 64-51 on a Garvo Lanete lay up late in the third.

So fluid was San Beda’s offensive that they dished out 29 assists that allowed five Lions to score in double figures.

American Suadan Daniel led the Lions with a double-double job of 14 points and 14 rebounds while Fil-Aussie Anthony Semerad and Jaypee Mendoza had 12 apiece and Jake Pascual and David Marcelo had 11 each for the Lions, who dropped CSB to 2-7.

San Sebastian made it a double celebration after the Staglets clobbered Emilio Aguinaldo Brigadiers, 82-65, for their fifth win in nine outings while the San Beda Red Cubs crushed La Salle-Greenies, 82-69, to remain at solo top with an 8-1 card.

The scores:
First Game
SAN SEBASTIAN 81 — Semira 17, Abueva 16, Del Rio 13, Sangalang 6, Bulawan 6, Maconocido
6, Pascual 5, Najorda 4, Raymundo 3, Gatchalian 2, Dela Cruz 2, Gorospe 1.
EMILIO AGUINALDO 63 — Vargas 16, L. Yaya 10, Mendoza 9, R. Yaya 7, Cubo 7, Diolanto 6, Chiong 4, Santos 2, Lapitan 0, Monteclaro 0.
Quarters: 22-10, 47-29, 69-39, 81-63.

Second Game
SAN BEDA 89 — Daniel 14, A. Semerad 12, Mendoza 12, Pascual 11, Marcelo 11, Hermida 9, Lanete 8, Caram 8, Del Rosa 4, Villahermosa 0, Pascual 0, Lim 0.
ST. BENILDE 70 — Lastimosa 19, Tan 12, De Guzman 9, Mccoy 9, Abolucion 6, Argamino 5, Wong 5, Dela Paz 3, Sinco 2, Nayve 0, Sevilla 0.
Quarters: 15-23, 44-39, 71-60, 89-70.