San Beda survived a hot-shooting Migs Pascual to escape San Sebastian, 74-73, in the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup recently at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Bismark Lina came away with a double-double performance of 15 points and 13 rebounds in a solid, all-around game, but the Red Lions had to repulse a sizzling showing from Pascual, who will undergo residency for the Stags in the coming season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Curiously, Lina and Pascual were former teammates at Batang Gilas when they were still representing the country in major international youth tournaments.
Pascual paced the Stags with 20 points, including four three-point shots.
But while Pascual appeared to be the lone bright spot for San Sebastian, Lina got plenty of help.
Two of those players were long-time players of San Beda’s program — Joshua Tagala and Cyrus Llarena — who ironically were also former teammates of Pascual.
Richi Calimag contributed 14 points for the Red Lions, who grabbed eight more rebounds than the Stags, 51-43.
Team captain Alex Desoyo added 17 markers for the Stags, who had 23 second chance points, 16 more than their rivals.
San Sebastian also had 45 bench points compared to 33 by San Beda.
