MANILA, Philippines - With all their heartbreaking losses to the San Beda Red Lions in the last few years, the Letran Knights are highly motivated to close out their NCAA best-of-three championship duel on Tuesday.
“All of us from Letran are heartbroken in those championship losses to San Beda. The players don’t want to feel that again. I don’t want that feeling also. And we are going to do our very best for it not to happen again,” said Letran coach Aldin Ayo.
The Knights were runners-up to the Red Lions in each of their last three NCAA championship conquests.
But Letran is now in a good position to snap its string of runner-up finishes after carving out a 94-90 win over San Beda in the opener of their title duel Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Knights have two chances at ending an 11-year title drought.
San Beda has been the NCAA super power, which made it to the finals each year in the last decade and went all the way to win the crown five times in the last eight years.
Of those finals, Letran and San Beda faced off in 2007, 2012 and 2013 before this year. The Knights dropped all those finales.
This year, San Beda had a 2-1 (win-loss) head-to-head with Letran by winning their second round match and the playoff for the top seeding.
“We have suffered enough, time to end it,” said Ayo.
For seniors Kevin Racal and Mark Cruz, both PBA-bound, they have something to prove.
“It’s painful losing to them (San Beda),” said Racal. “This is our last chance to get to feel winning a championship so we’ll try not to let this opportunity pass.”
“I just want to win a championship before I graduate,” Cruz, for his part, said.
Racal, who is expected to sign a contract with Alaska Milk after the NCAA, played the game of his life as he torched the Lions with 28 points, his most in his three championship appearances.
He shone the brightest in the second half when he dropped 24 points, 14 of them in the final quarter.
“What can I say, he’s no PBA first rounder for nothing,” said Ayo of Racal.