Lions coach brace for Cardinals adjustment

MANILA, Philippines -- With their backs against the wall, the San Beda Red Lions would not go down easily.

San Beda, trailing 0-1 in the NCAA Season 99 Finals against the Mapua Cardinals, pulled out all the stops it needed on Sunday, 71-65, to force a rubber match next Sunday.

Red Lions head coach Yuri Escueta is happy they finally won a game against the Cardinals this season.

"This is very special. If there's one thing that we now know, and our players now believe in, is now, we can beat them," Escueta told reporters after their win.

The head coach, however, acknowledged that the winner-take-all Game 3 will be an all-out war.

"It won't be easy, knowing Coach Randy [Alcantara.] Of course, they'll prepare. They will adjust," Escueta said.

"They will adjust, and we have to be ready for that. But, this is a big win for us against Mapua," he added.

The Red Lions will aim to bring the same intensity they had in Game 2 to Game 3.

"It is a do-or-die game. That's it. We will do what we did today to the next game. We'll leave everything on the floor," he said.

"We've been in this stiuation before... And the only thing we did is we told our team to stay together, and never surrender. Fight until the end, whatever the result is."

Game 3 will be on Sunday, December 17, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.