Red Lions, Stags begin showdown for NCAA crown
MANILA—For two schools steeped in championship tradition, being in the finals is never enough.
Expect no letup for 14-time champion San Beda and 12-time winner San Sebastian as they duke it out for the 86th NCAA basketball championship starting Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Red Lions have been invincible all season long, pulling off an amazing 16-game sweep of the elimination round, a feat which was rewarded by a thrice-to-beat advantage in the finals, equivalent to a 1-0 lead in a best-of-five series.
Though far from the sharp form they flaunted when they won the title last year, the Stags have been getting the job done when it mattered most.
With their season on the line, the Stags trounced Jose Rizal U, 61-52, in a match for the last finals berth last Friday.
Game 1 of the finals, a rematch of last year’s title showdown won by the Stags via a two-game sweep, is set at 4 p.m.
San Beda and San Sebastian will also clash in Game 1 of the best-of-three juniors finals at 2 p.m.
It’s been smooth-sailing so far for the Red Lions, who won 14 of their 16 games via double-digit margins.
“The sweep won’t matter if we don’t win the championship,” San Beda coach Frankie Lim told the PSA Forum yesterday at Shakey’s UN Avenue in Manila.
“It’s payback time. They took away our title last year. We have a good chance to bring back the title to Mendiola.”
The Lions survived two bruising games against the Stags this season, but Lim vowed their dominance will not end there.
“We’re used to big games,” said Lim, who is counting on Sudan Daniel and veterans Jake Pascual, Borgie Hermida, Garvo Lanete and Rome dela Rosa.
San Sebastian coach Ato Agustin acknowledged that the Stags are the underdogs in the finals.
“Defending the title is always difficult,” said Agustin. “San Beda offers so many matchup problems for us.”
Agustin, though, finds solace in the fact that the Stags, even without swingman Ronald Pascual, gave the Lions all they could handle before yielding an 82-90 decision in the second round. Photo by Mark Giongco
READ NEXT
EDITORS' PICK
