ADVERTISEMENT

Manila Bulletin

Sports

Basketball

Cortez on target as Red Lions trounce Knights

Sports | Basketball

Cortez on target as Red Lions trounce Knights

By Mark Rey Montejo

At A Glance

The Final Four-bound Red Lions leaned on the steady plays of Cortez, who poured in five of 17 points in the last two minutes, including a left corner triple that served as a dagger to the hearts of the Knights.

Jacob Cortez showed nerves of steel to lift San Beda past rival Letran, 77-68, in the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball tournament at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Friday, Nov. 24.

4. SBU JACOB CORTEZ.jpg — Jacob Cortez delivers the lethal blows for San Beda. (NCAA Media)

The Final Four-bound Red Lions leaned on the steady plays of Cortez, who poured in five of 17 points in the last two minutes, including a left corner triple that served as a dagger to the hearts of the Knights.

Jomel Puno chipped in 15 points, while Clifford Jopia added 11 for San Beda which finished the eliminations with a 12-6 record and will face Lyceum in the semifinals with a twice-to-beat disadvantage.

San Beda head coach Yuri Escueta emphasized Cortez’s maturity on and off the court that proved instrumental to their momentum-building victory.

"It's really nice seeing Jacob grow as the season progresses," Escueta said.

"He's been really playing well for us not just basketball wise but also outside the court, leadership wise, he really grows," he added.

Kobe Monje, who ended up with 17 points, took charge for the Knights’ final stand.

Letran, the ousted champion, finished the season with a 2-16 record.

The Red Lions will battle the Pirates on Tuesday, Nov. 28, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Scores

San Beda 77- Cortez 17, Puno 15, Jopia 11, Andrada 10, Cubtapay 9, Alfaro 6, Payosing 4, Tagle 3, Visser 2, Gonzales 0, Gonzales 0, Royo 0, Gallego 0

Letran 68- Monje 17, Cuajao 15, Ariar 13, Garupil 8, Santos 7, Go 3, Bojorcelo 2, Nunag 2, Jumao-as 1, Batallier 0, Brilliantes 0, Bautista 0

Quarterscores: 14-16; 41-33; 60-48; 77-68

Related Tags

Letran Knights San Beda Red Lions NCAA Season 99

ADVERTISEMENT

.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }

{{ item.section_name }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ item.subtitle }}

Read More

function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });

Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.