MANILA, Philippines—Unstoppable on all accounts, San Beda booked an outright seat to the 87th NCAA juniors basketball finals with a stunning18-game sweep of the eliminations.
The Red Cub will carry a precious thrice-to-beat advantage in the finals as an incentive for the sweep after it destroyed San Sebastian Staglets, 96-68, Wednesday at the Arena in San Juan.
A balanced attack—led by Francis Abarcar and Daryl Nazareno’s 14 and 10 points, respectively—gave the Red Lions a virtual 1-0 lead in a best-of-five finals.
The other finals seat in the juniors division will be disputed by the second place Letran, La Salle Greenhills and EAC-ICA via a stepladder format.
The Red Lions wasted no time in dumping the Staglets as they surged to a double-digit lead as early as the second quarter before pushing the lead to more than a month, 74-43, at the end of third—the biggest of the game.