Lions sweep Archers to bag first PCCL crown

MANILA, Philippines – The NCAA, not the UAAP, has the best college basketball team this year.

Drawing strength from its stingy defense and clutch shooting, San Beda turned back La Salle to clinch its first ever title in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League at the Ynares Gym in Pasig City Monday.

Ola Adeogun of Nigeria bucked foul trouble but still came through with a game-high 19 points while helping the Lions stop La Salle's monster rookie Ben Mbala of Cameroon to help the Lions complete a two-game sweep of the finals.

"We're representing not just the school but the whole of NCAA so it’s really a great feeling to win here," said Adeogun.

San Beda thus became the second team from the NCAA to win this annual tournament after San Sebastian surprised everyone by topping the 2011 edition.

After the final buzzer sounded, the Lions and their fans celebrated on midcourt with everyone hugging Adeogun, who later adjudged MVP while being named in the First Mythical Team alongside teammates Baser Amer and Arthur dela Cruz and La Salle's Jeron Teng and Thomas Torres.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas chief Manny V. Pangilinan then joined the team later to join the celebrate and award the best individual performers and the champion and runner up trophies.

San Beda acting coach Adonis Tierra was also celebrating alongside former head coach Boyet Fernandez, who will hand over the coaching reins to Jamike Jarin after being named to the NLEX job.

After all, the Lions have just crowned themselves the best collegiate team in the land.

"From the start, we kept talking about pride because San Beda never really won here. Now we're happy to have finally won," said Tierra.

Dela Cruz had a solid outing of 15 points and 13 rebounds while Amer struggled before finishing with 14.

It was defense, however, that sealed it.

"We knew for us to have a chance to beat La Salle today (yesterday), we need to hold down Mbala. And we accomplished it in this game," said Tierra.

Truly, Mbala was held to just 10 points and 12 boards after leading La Salle with 26 points and 14 rebounds in an 81-88 loss in the opener last Thursday.

The poor effort spoiled the 25-point performance of Jeron Teng.

In the one-game all-Cebu battle for third place, University of Visayas edged University of San Carlos, 63-60, with Michael Abad and Francis Arong leading the way with 19 and 15 points, respectively.

The scores:

San Beda 73 – Adeogun 19, dela Cruz 15, Amer 14, Tankoua 9, Sara 7, Koga 2, Sorela 2, Mocon 2, Soberano 2, Mendoza 1, Tongco 0

La Salle 67 – Teng 25, Rivero 11, Mbala 10, Montalbo 8, Torres 7, Tratter 5, Muyang 0

Quarterscores: 16-15; 31-33; 47-50; 73-67