JRU rolls over defending champions in style

September 16, 2009 by Red Lens

WHEN the going gets rough, the tough get going.

Marc Cagoco proved that point as he steered his Jose Rizal University five to a 77-64 win over San Beda College in NCAA Season 85 last September 16 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Cagoco, JRU’s team captain, lifted the Shaw five from a near-collapse in the payoff period. After the Red Lions whittled down the Bombers’ lead to three, 58-55, through a 7-0 run, the fourth-year guard led a 19-9 counterattack that put the clamps on the three-time, defending champions. All in all, Cagoco scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the payoff period, including two crucial triples that created distance in the dying stretch.

Marvin Hayes assisted Cagoco with a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Garvo Lanete, meanwhile, paced San Beda with 16 markers. Sudan Daniel, who exploded for a career-high 31 points against JRU in the first round, was held to just seven points and seven boards.

Entering the game, San Beda averaged a league-best 20 fastbreak points per game. The Heavy Bombers, though, limited the Mendiola quintet to just five markers and dished out eight more assists, 19-11. San Beda’s 13-point loss was its worst since 2005, the last time the Lions missed out on the Final Four. JRU also managed to avenge its 96-81 defeat in its first round meeting last August 10.

JRU head coach Ariel Vanguardia said, “A lot of people might hate him [Cagoco], and the way he plays but I love my players. I know that come gametime, we’ll need to go to him being the veteran and the team captain. This is his final year also. Earlier, he said he wanted this game, he wanted the ball, and he wanted to call the plays. I told them that if we get to force them to score just around 70 points, we may have a chance since they’re averaging around 90. The defense we played against Letran worked wonders for us so I asked them [if] can we still apply that same kind of defense today. Luckily we were able to do that. We need to sustain it though in our last three games for a shot at the one of the top two spots.

“We are now committed that we won’t wait for Etame [Joe]. James [Sena] still has something in him that’s waiting to unfold. I saw Hayes’ brilliance. We still have some aspects to improve on and hopefully it will be evident in our last three games as we haven’t reached our peak yet,” he added.

The scores:

JRU 77 – Cagoco 19, Hayes 13, Wilson 11, Sena 10, Agas 8, Njei 7, Bulangis 5, Lopez 4, Apinan 0.

San Beda 64 – Lanete 16, Gamalinda 15, Daniel 7, Caram 7, Pascual 5, Hermida 5, Taganas 4, de la Rosa 2, Marcelo 2, Tecson 1, Tirona 0.

Quarter scores: 13-11, 38-29, 54-44, 77-64. [More Photos]