Fernandez expects ‘tough’ NCAA season ahead for San Beda

MANILA, Philippines – San Beda, despite its depth and talent, knows its road to a fourth straight NCAA championship won’t be a walk in the park.

The Red Lions are 3-1 against three fellow NCAA teams in the preseason with their lone loss coming at the hands of a much-improved Arellano side.

“It will be a tough NCAA battle for us,” declared Fernandez, after San Beda pulled away in the second half to turn back College of St. Benilde 74-58 Monday afternoon.

And though San Beda is still far from where it wants to be come the NCAA season, Fernandez doesn’t want to take any team for granted.

Fernandez even sees the Blazers as one of the top teams this season, saying that the team’s new head coach Gabby Velasco – instilling his system – makes CSB a tough team to beat.

“Come to think of it, maganda naman talaga nilalaro nila even last season. We were up by 16 or 18 with four minutes left and they came back and cut it to nine.”

“For me, I always expect tough games. Everybody wants to prove something, everybody wants to beat San Beda,” said starting center Ola Adeogun, following his double-double performance with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

“So we just have to be ready. It’s hard to win a championship, it’s even harder to keep it. So we just have to play our game and be aggressive. We’re improving but we’re still not in our level yet. But we have to have a defensive mind-set.”