‘We need to play with a lot of pride’ Stags, Knights in KO battle

Kevin Alas of Letran protects the ball from Ronald Pascual of San Sebastian. PHOTO BY AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines—On the verge of putting to waste a season where they matched the school’s longest winning streak, San Sebastian and its rookie coach Topex Robinson remained defiant.

“We just can’t give up,” Robinson said after the Stags lost to the Letran Knights, 62-70, Monday, that forged a do-or-die game for the second finals berth in the 87th NCAA basketball tournament.

“There is no third or fourth place team here. We want to be in the finals.”

The struggling Stags face the Knights again today at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan to determine San Beda’s opponent in the best-of-three finals.

San Beda clinched the first finals berth with an 83-74 decision over Jose Rizal U in the other semifinal pairing last Monday.

Robinson expects his Stags to come out with plenty of fire this time against the Knights, whose suffocating defense took San Sebastian out of its rhythm in the first game Monday.

“We need to play with a lot of pride,” Robinson said. “We must be aggressive especially on defense.”

The Knights are bracing for a tougher match this time with coach Louie Alas dismissing any notions that his team has the momentum because of its stunning win last Monday.

“We have to be ready and come out with the same intensity as last Monday,” said Alas, whose Knights limited the Stags to a season-low 15 field goals for the game.

Mark Cruz was the Knights’ trump card in the last game, finishing with 12 points, including eight in the final period.

Jam Cortes also proved solid with 16 points and nine rebounds as the Knights bucked the dismissal of big men Raymond Almazan and Jonathan Belorio due to fouls.

The Stags have been missing the usual firepower from Ronald Pascual, whose scoring averaged has dipped to just 8.3 points per game in the last three outings—all San Sebastian losses.

Robinson isn’t about to give up on Pascual.

“Ronald brought us to where we are now. We believe in him,” the former PBA player turned coach said.