MANILA, Philippines—Less than a week after foiling Letran’s bid for top seeding, San Beda locked up first place Saturday night.
The defending champion Red Lions started strong and showed no letup en route to a 78-62 win over the Arellano Chiefs in the final game of eliminations of the 89th NCAA Season men’s basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan.
“I’m happy for the boys but it’s a different ball game come the semifinals,”said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez.
San Beda zoomed to an 11-0 lead and never looked back as they cruised to their 15th win against three losses before heading into the Final Four.
Center Ola Adeogun notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Baser Amer also had 11 points, all in the first half, to go along with six assists for the Lions.
San Beda will face either San Sebastian and Perpetual Help in the semifinals as both the Stags (11-7) and Altas (11-7) tangle in a playoff on Tuesday with the winner claiming the third seed and the right to go up against no.2 Letran and the loser clashing with the ‘five-peat’ seeking Lions.
“You cannot choose any team [in the Final Four]. Both teams are strong and I know both coaches, coach Aric and coach Topex and I respect them both,” said Fernandez.
The semis starts on November 7 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Chiefs, who peaked just a little too late, saw their winning streak end at four as they close their campaign with an 8-10 mark.
Prince Caperal had 23 points on top of 10 rebounds for Arellano while Adam Serjue scored 17.