PHOTO BY SHERWIN VARDELEON
San Beda doesn’t hide the fact that its defense is its greatest weapon.
And the defending champion Red Lions will not veer away from that mentality when they clash with Lyceum in a rematch of last year’s title series that San Beda swept as the solo lead in NCAA Season 95 men’s basketball tournament is up for grabs Tuesday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
“It will be a tough one for us again, but hopefully we can continue to bring that defensive mentality that helped us get here,” said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez of their 4 p.m. clash with the Pirates.
The Lions are unbeaten in six games, using a high-octane defense to bottle up opposing teams and even make some of them look silly.
Before they mangled Perpetual Help by 46 points last week in the most lopsided match of the season, the Lions toppled the Knights—a possible hurdle in their title-retention bid.
Coming off that tough loss against the Lions, the Knights (5-2) aim to recover lost ground against San Sebastian (2-3) at 12 noon with Stags coach Egay Macaraya to serve out a one-game suspension.
Perpetual Help will likewise miss coach Frankie Lim, who is reportedly “on leave,” as the slumping Altas (2-5) face Emilio Aguinaldo (1-6) at 2 p.m.
Just like the Lions, the Pirates have been consistent throughout their campaign with the shock defeat against Emilio Aguinaldo College the only glitch in their impressive 6-1 record, good for second.
“It’s a big test for us playing mighty San Beda. We’re always up to the challenge,” said Lyceum coach Topex Robinson.
“We don’t have any control on how they will prepare for us, but we can control the type of game that we are going to play,” added Robinson.
San Beda and Lyceum finished 1-2 last season, losing just a combined four games.
But the finals was lopsided, with the Lions winning by an average of 14 points.
Lyceum has been steadily banking on twins Jaycee and Jayvee Marcelino and the productive Reymar Caduyac as well as center Mike Nzeusseu.
Fernandez, on the other hand, has relied heavily on guards Evan Nelle and James Kwekuteye, shooting guards AC Soberano and Clint Doliguez and frontliners Donald Tankoua and Calvin Oftana the past six games.