MANILA, Philippines — Amid all the twists and turns of the elimination round, defending champion San Beda University secured the Group A top seed after toppling College of Saint Benilde, 82-69, in the NCAA Season 102 men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday afternoon at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Despite being tied with Jose Rizal University (JRU) with a 10-3 win-loss record, San Beda took the top spot in the “Group of Death,” due to the win-over-the-other rule.
San Beda defeated JRU twice in the elimination round, giving the Mendiola-based squad the advantage.
Taking the one-two slot in Group A, both San Beda and JRU head to the quarterfinals with a twice-to-beat incentive.
The Yuri Escueta-mentored team will either face Group B’s bottom teams, Perpetual and San Sebastián, which will clash in the play-in round
San Sebastián needs to win over Perpetual twice in order to earn a quarterfinals slot.
Andrei Ugaddan led the scoring for San Beda with 18 points and five rebounds, while Jimmy Reyes added 12 points.
“We just trained, and we really worked hard for it, as you can see. We made sure to get back over Benilde,” rookie Ugaddan said after the game.
Two more Red Lions hit the double-digit mark, with Aldous Torculas putting up 11 points, while John Bonzalida added 10.
Justine Sanchez put up the fight for Benilde with 15 points, while Jhomel Ancheta added 10.
Benilde fell to an 8-5 win-loss record and is seeded third in Group A.
The Blazers will face Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC).
