Red Lions, Pirates seek outright final

MANILA, Philippines —  San Beda and Lyceum of the Philippines University try to forge a title showdown for the second straight year as they take on Perpetual Help and Letran, respectively, today in the Final Four of the 94th NCAA basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

The Lions, who finished on top after the elimination round with a 17-1 (win-loss) card, clash with the No. 4 Altas at 4 p.m. while the Pirates, who wound up the No. 2 seed after a 15-3 slate, tackle the No. 3 Knights at 1:30 p.m. needing just a win to arrange a best-of-three finale.

San Beda will be eyeing its 13th straight finals appearance during which they won all but two championships while LPU is aiming to make it back to the finals where it hopes to finally claim its very first championship since joining the league seven seasons ago.

The Lions will come in as favorites having swept the Altas – 67-65 in the first round on July 7 and 80-72 Tuesday – but coach Boyet Fernandez remained wary of their foes.

“Although we beat them twice, both games were close so we expect our Final Four match to be the toughest for sure,” said Fernandez.

The LPU-Letran match is expected to be a dogfight as the two split their two outings in the elims with the Knights winning their most recent encounter, 80-79, decided by referees downgrading a triple by Jaycee Marcelino to just a long two on Oct. 5.