INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?The final stage is usually the toughest but both San Beda College and San Sebastian College feel they are well-prepared for it.

Sitting on top for almost the entire season, the Lions and the Stags start their best-of-three series for the 85th NCAA men?s basketball title Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Both protagonists survived an exhausting grind the past couple of weeks en route to the showdown.

?When you are in the finals, it?s all or nothing,? San Beda coach Frankie Lim, whose squad disposed of Letran College in the Final Four. ?So you don?t have an excuse, you just leave all those factors behind and play.?

?We expect a great and exciting series, it?s going to be war,? said San Sebastian rookie coach Ato Agustin.

The Stags needed two games to oust Jose Rizal U and reach the finals for the first time in six years.

Lim sees a tough series for the Lions, who are seeking a fourth straight crown. He noted that their three previous games with the Stags were decided by six points or less.

The Stags took the first round, 83-77, but the Lions exacted revenge with a come-from-behind 71-67 victory in the second round that also forced a playoff for the No. 1 seed in the Final Four.

San Beda pounced on the ejection of San Sebastian skipper Jimbo Aquino in the third quarter to prevail in the playoff, 71-65.

But Agustin is confident of his team?s chances now that he will have a complete lineup at his disposal.

?We?ll make the necessary adjustments,? said Agustin, who missed power forward Gilbert Bulawan in the second round tiff with San Beda. ?But it?s going to be different because we have a complete lineup.?

Agustin hopes that the Stags continue the menacing form they showed in blowing away JRU in the knockout duel for the last Final Four berth.

The Stags looked almost invincible in the first three months of the season, going on a 15-game tear before dropping four of their last seven games.

?We respect them for their 15-game winning streak but they should also respect us because we beat them twice,? Lim said.

Lim said Aquino will be a ?marked man? in the series.

?He is the focal point of the offense,? Lim said of the Stags? skipper who averaged close to 20 points in the eliminations. ?He will make it difficult for us. We have devised a plan to stop him.?

San Sebastian and San Beda last figured in a championship series in 1997 with the Stags, led by Rommel Adducul, winning the crown.

Meanwhile, University of Perpetual Help picked the right time to execute a near-flawless performance yesterday as it topped the 2009 Samsung NCAA Cheerleading competition at the jampacked FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Graceful and polished despite the high degree of difficulty of their routine, the Perps amassed 335.5 points to bring home the title worth P90,000.

Last year?s champion Jose Rizal University?which denied Perpetual a fourth straight title?wound up with 311 points for second place and the P50,000 purse.