San Beda holds off JRU, clinches first NCAA finals berth

MANILA, Philippines—Anchored by its solid frontcourt, defending champion San Beda clinched the first finals berth after staving off a surging Jose Rizal University side, 83-74, Monday in the semifinals of the 87th men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.

The Red Lions drew a combined 40 points and 31 rebounds from their bigs—Dave Marcelo, Kyle Pascual and Jake Pascual.

Marcelo, though, did the most damage with a dominating effort on both ends of the floor.

Logging more minutes with the absence of the injured Sudan Daniel, Marcelo owned the shaded area with 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks.

San Beda let JRU creep back in the game as its lead of as big as 17 dwindled down to just six, 78-72, with 1:07 left.

“To give credit to Vergel (Meneses), that team (JRU) was a well-coached team. Even if we led 17 points it wasn’t easy,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim, whose squad chalked up its sixth straight finals appearance, five of which under his watch.

“Up to the very end, they tried to come back,” added Lim.

Rome de la Rosa topscored for San Beda with 17 markers. Kyle Pascual added 14 points and 10 boards while Jake Pascual scored 10 and grabbed 11 rebounds.

With sheer size and depth, the Red Lions were just too much for the Bombers, who bucked a 3-9 start to enter the semifinal round.

JRU fell short despite the hot shooting of swingman Nate Matute, who finished with a game-high 21 points, built on four-of-seven shooting from beyond-the-arc.

John Lopez, who pulled JRU to within six with his back-to-back baskets, chipped in 12 points and 13 rebounds.

San Beda, gunning for its fifth title in six years, came out blistering in the third period as it established a 64-47 buffer on a Baser Amer shot.

Matute though, carried the Bombers on his back as he scored the team’s last 13 points to keep JRU afloat amid the San Beda crossfire.

The Heavy Bombers attempted 41 free throws but only made 27 as compared with the Red Lions’ 22-of-27 shooting from the stripe.

The loss also ended JRU’s six-game winning streak.

No. 2 San Sebastian and third-seed Letran are battling out the last Finals berth as of press time.