Lions, Knights begin best-of-3 title series

It’s a championship series that’s too close to call and rife with historical significance.

Bracing for a dogfight, San Beda and Letran begin their best-of-three title showdown at 2:30 p.m. today for the 89th NCAA basketball championship at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The two have 33 titles between them with the Lions hoping to extend their record to 18 crowns against the Knights, who are seeking to match them as the league’s most successful team.

The finals is also a rematch of the championship series last season, where an inspired San Beda squad blew past an out-of-sorts Letran in an anticlimactic Game 3 to clinch the crown.

“That loss last year still haunts us and we’re determined to bounce back,” said Letran center Raymond Almazan, who is hoping to cap an MVP season with an NCAA title before joining the pros.

“We promise there won’t be a repeat of what happened last year.”

“We’re ready for Letran,” declared San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez, who took the helm at the start of the season.  “It will be a very close series and the best way to finish the season. We just hope we’d come out on top.”

“I think the pressure is on San Beda because nobody really expected us to be in the finals,” said Letran coach Caloy Garcia.

“It’s a different team from last year. We’re very much confident of beating San Beda.”

Almazan’s matchup with San Beda center Ola Adeogun will be among the sidelights to a series that offers plenty of intriguing matchups.
Baser Amer, San Beda’s cool and calculating guard, and Letran spitfire Mark Cruz will be pitted at the backcourt, while do-it-all forwards Kevin Racal and Rome dela Rosa are also seen as impact players in the series.

Both teams looked sharp in disposing of their respective Final Four foes with San Beda disposing of fourth seed Perpetual Help, 70-51, while Letran drubbed San Sebastian, 85-58.

“It will boil down to better defense,” the two coaches agreed.

The Knights won the first round meeting between the two, 74-67, before the Lions bounced back with a 76-72 overtime win to clinch the top seeding in the Final Four.

“If you look at their Final Four showing, they massacred San Sebastian so we have to worry about them,” said  Fernandez.