WILL Letran wield the upset ax against back-against-the-wall defending champion San Beda?
Letran continues to come out smoking over its fabled rival San Beda University in Game Two of their best-of-three Finals on Friday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia, Pasay.
The Knights ended the Red Lions’ remarkable 32-game winning streak with a series-opening 65-64 win last Friday.
Letran is determined to regain the crown it last won in 2015, while putting its bitter rivals’ against the ropes.
San Beda is in danger of becoming the second team, after Lyceum of the Philippines University in 2017, to fail to clinch the throne after completing an 18-0 elimination round sweep.
“Before the Finals, I told my players to play for the alma mater. Play for the school,” Coach Bonnie Tan said.
The Knights won five Finals games against the Red Lions this decade. But Tan is bracing for a big San Beda comeback to send the series to a decider on Tuesday.
“They are the defending champions. They are the three-time champions. They have the experience,” Tan said. “As a coach, we must be ready for any eventuality.”
Fran Yu was scintillating since the step-ladder semifinals, carrying Letran this far in the season, while Jerrick Balanza and Larry Muyang were also solid in the opener.
The Knights may not have clinched the bulk of the individual awards that the Red Lions ran away with, but they are determined to claim the biggest prize.
“I told the boys that we didn’t get any award. But the most important is the championship,” Tan said.
On the brink of absorbing his first NCAA Finals loss, Coach Boyet Fernandez hopes the Red Lions have shaken off the Game One defeat that shattered the team’s cloak of invincibility.
The pressure of maintaining such a long streak that started in August last year took its toll on the Red Lions.
“The pressure is off our backs right now. Having a clean slate takes its toll on the players and the community, but we did that,” Fernandez said. “No one is to blame but ourselves.”
The league’s best shooting and passing team in the eliminations, San Beda went six-of-40 from beyond the arc and had 10 assists, with top assist man Evan Nelle, could only dish out one, in Game One.
“I told the boys to accept the pain and think about what we did not do well. Eventually, they need to think about what we did well. We held them to down 65 points after averaging 80 plus,” Fernandez said. “If we do that, we have a chance to win on Friday.”