NCAA juniors: San Beda overcomes LSGH, inches closer to 5th title in a row

MANILA, Philippines — San Beda survived a scare as it needed to hold off a resilient La Salle Greenhills side, 79-68, and move a win away from a rare unbeaten championship run in the NCAA Season 89 juniors basketball tournament Monday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Graduating center Arvin Tolentino led the Red Cubs, who can clinch their fifth straight title in Game 2 on Thursday, with 21 points and the game-clinching steal and finish that pushed his team’s advantage back to 11, 77-66, with exactly a minute left.

“They made it to the Finals because the Greenies really play the heart,” said San Beda coach JB Sison, whose team is looking to become just the second team to pull off an undefeated title run since San Sebastian did the feat back in 2008. “Just so happened that in the end we made the big plays.”

With their 12-point lead cut to just five, the Red Cubs finished the game on an 8-2 run doing it at the defensive end.

San Beda forced two consecutive turnovers with the Red Cubs capitalizing through Tolentino and Ranbill Tongco.

“There were scrambles for the loose ball and we ended up with the basket and it broke their backs,” added Sison.

Sison also said that his team lost its lead after Joshua Caracut cramped up, Franz Abuda got into foul trouble and last year’s Finals MVP Javee Mocon had an off-night.

“We had to mix up the rotation and put in three smalls and fortunately, Arvin stepped up.”

But those were just minor problems for the Red Cubs, who nailed an outright Finals berth and a commanding ‘thrice-to-beat’ advantage after an 18-game elimination round sweep, with La Salle forward Prince Rivero being the main concern throughout the game.

Rivero, who is also in his last year, gave San Beda fits with 34 points and 24 rebounds to offset his eight miscues in 37 minutes.

“We tried to stop him but he still scored. We tried to put Mocon, we put Arvin against him and also Abatayo but it seemed like we couldn’t so we just have to limit him.”

Rivero though, had little help while the Red Cubs leaned on a balanced charge with Rev Diputado, Ranbill Tongco and Caracut also contributing solid efforts.

Despite being within a step away from the crown, Sison wouldn’t want to be too confident heading into Game 2.

“We still have to prepare on Tuesday and Wednesday.”

“We just have to stick with what we’re doing,” said Tolentino.