Lions through; Knights live on

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda secured its now-familiar spot in the finals while Letran and San Sebastian are left in a dispute for the right to challenge the Red Lions after yesterday’s Final Four action in 87th NCAA seniors basketball tourney at the Arena.

Its frontliners delivering big-time, the top seeded San Beda nipped No. 4 Jose Rizal, 83-74, to book their sixth straight finals appearance even as the No. 3 Knights drubbed the No. 2 Stags, 70-62, to force a rubber match for the other finals berth.

“The whole year, our plan is going towards championship. In fact, since November last year, we’ve already been working very hard to prepare ourselves for the NCAA finals and we did it. This is it. No looking back,” said SBC coach Frankie Lim, who’s on his fifth straight finals stint.

Big men Dave Marcelo (16 points, 10 rebounds), Kyle Pascual (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Jake Pascual (10 points, 11 rebounds) posted double-double performances to complement Rome dela Rosa’s team-high 17 points.

The 6-6 Marcelo was a pillar of strength at the post, swatting away seven JRU shots, aside from his double figures in points and rebounds, to fill-in for injured American Sudan Daniel.

“He should deliver. It’s his last year and Sudan is out so he’s going to get his minutes. Seven blocks, that’s great,” said Lim.

The Lions seized control in the second period, 27-17, and went on to take a commanding 59-42 lead halfway through the third. The Bombers mounted an uprising behind Nat Matute and John Lopez to close in at 72-78 but Jake Pascual and Dela Rosa took care of business at the stripe to seal the win.

“Give credit to JRU coach Vergel Meneses. I think JRU is a well-coached team and even if we led by 15, 16 points, it wasn’t easy for us. We had to work and execute what we planned.

“They (Bombers) were fighting it out ‘til the end, trying to come back. Luckily, my players were composed. Marcelo and Kyle played well and we also stopped Matute after he made three consecutive triples. So in the end, it was our offense, at the same time our defense against Matute (that keyed this win),” said Lim.

The Knights held the Stags to a single field goal in the fourth period while unleashing a 10-0 run to take a 56-46 lead that they stretched to 12 at 65-53.

The Knights, who dealt the Stags first loss after the latter posted 15 straight wins this season, and the Recoletos-based squad will dispute the second finals berth tomorrow.

It was SSC’s fourth loss in its last five games.

“We’re still alive,” said Letran coach Louie Alas, who drew stepped-up games from Jam Cortes (16 points, nine rebounds) and 5-7 Mark Cruz (12 points, including eight in the payoff period that fuelled their breakaway) to complement Kevin Alas’ 15.

“This is our primary goal- the Final Four - and since we’re already here, we have to make the most out of it,” added Alas, who applied “team defense” against SSC ace Calvin Abueva (19 points and 16 rebounds).

In the juniors stepladder playoffs, College of St. Benilde-La Salle-Greenhills clubbed Emilio Aguinaldo College, 88-74.

The Greenies face No. 2 Letran on Wednesday to determine the opponent of San Beda in the finals. The Red Cubs swept the 18-game elims to clinch outright finals berth with a thrice to beat advantage.