Andrada leaves Lions’ den by adding to SBC title cache

Yukien Andrada and Yuri Escueta shared one last glorious run at San Beda. —NCAA PHOTO

When 2025 started, San Beda was the winningest school in both the NCAA and UAAP.

Things stayed the same at the end of the year after Season 101 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, when the Red Lions, in dominant fashion, won their second title in three years after sweeping longtime arch-rival Letran in the Finals.

Before they got there, though, they already displayed their dominance in the early parts of the Grand Old League’s newest basketball format.

Veering away from the traditional double round-robin, the NCAA last season applied the group stage classification phase, where groups were introduced with six schools making up each.

While the classification looked blurry in the early parts of the tournament, one thing was clear: the Lions were the team to beat.

Even with defending champion Mapua, which had its own struggles with a downer of a final year from Clint Escamis, as San Beda topped Group B.

The Lions finished with a 9-4 record to enter the playoffs and carry a twice-to-beat advantage.

It was the same story, even if the stakes got higher as the Lions lost just two more games from there on the way to claiming a 24th title—the most by any school in Philippine collegiate basketball.

At the front, back and center of the Lions’ Season 101 championship run was graduating forward Yukien Andrada, who came back for a final season and ditched an anticipated debut at the start of the professional PBA to fulfill a promise for the faithful of Mendiola. INQ