MANILA --Unbeaten San Sebastian went into its game with winless Emilio Aguinaldo anticipating a blowout.

It didn’t happen.

Relying on its veterans when its player experiment failed, San Sebastian overcame a pesky Emilio Aguinaldo, 87-73, Friday to zoom to its fourth straight win and into the lead alongside Jose Rizal in Season 85 at The Arena in San Juan City.

Calvin Abueva was scrappy as usual with 17 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists while John Raymundo fired 16 points he laced with four booming triples to pace the Stags.

But it was leader Jimbo Aquino who delivered when his team needed it most as he unleashed an eight-point binge to finish with 14 points and help the Mendiola-based dribblers knock in their fourth win in row.

San Sebastian mentor Ato “The Atom Bomb” Agustin admitted later on that he experimented with his new guys.

“Without belittling EAC, I experimented with the guys because I need to toughen them up in bigger games in the future,” said Agustin, a former PBA MVP who made a living out of shooting the lights of the coliseum.

“And besides, its going to be a long season so I have to really make use of the bench otherwise my starters would get tired,” he added.

Well rested following an eight-day rest, the Stags jumped the gun on the Generals early and detonated a fireworks display to grab a 45-29 upper hand they preserve to go into the last canto still comfortably ahead, 49-37.

And then the experiment began.

Knowing that the season is going to be a long one with a record 10 teams seeing action this year, Agustin dug deep into his bench and used four or five more players he rarely used.

But the ploy backfired as the Generals went to Argel Mendoza and Claude Cubo as they clawed their way back to cut their deficit down to 60-63 with a quarter to go.

A triple each by Raymond Maconocido and Ronald Pascual early in the final canto lit a huge run Aquino fueled with an eight-point barrage to finish off what was left with EAC.

EAC, led by Mendoza’s 20 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals, fell to its fourth straight defeat.