San Beda vs. San Sebastian II: Dominance or Vengeance?
It's that time of the year again when the Red Lions of San Beda College and the Golden Stags of San Sebastian College tangle in the last day of the elimination round of the NCAA. It has been that way since 2010, after both teams figured in the finals of 2009.
The Red Lions have been the most dominant team in the last six years, losing only to the Stags in 2009. After ending a 28-year dry spell in 2006, San Beda completed a three-peat in 2008. The Lions beat PCU in 2006, Letran in 2007, and JRU in 2008 for the NCAA diadem.
But in 2009, a new-look San Sebastian squad immediately rained on the Lions' parade. The Stags featured the deadly trio of Calvin Abueva, Ronald Pascual and Ian Sangalang. It was also the last playing year of sharp shooter Jimbo Aquino. On the Lions' side, rookie Sudan Daniel tried to duplicate what Sam Ekwe produced for San Beda. But he would not achieve it that year as the Stags swept the Lions in the finals of 2009.
Since then, SBC and SSC have always met in the finals, with the former winning the last two seasons. But this 88th edition of the NCAA is looking like a year when Abueva and Pascual play out their final stint for the Stags with a championship ring.
Today's meeting between the two squads carries more weight on the part of the Stags. The Lions are safely in No. 1 even if they lose to SSC. They await the winner of the Jose Rizal-Perpetual Help tussle, which they will meet in the semis. San Beda, being the top team, enjoys a twice-to-beat advantage.
But the Stags are expected to go all out in today's game to avoid a playoff with Letran for the second spot, which also has a twice-to-beat edge. If they lose to San Beda today, the Stags share second place with the Knights with identical 12-6 cards, and the tie will have to be broken in a playoff game on Thursday.
On the other hand, San Beda is raring to avenge its 71-80 defeat to the Stags in the first round. The defending champs only have two losses so far and it already got back at first-round tormentors Perpetual Help Altas last week.
In the first round game versus SSC, the Lions fell behind by as many as 22 points in the first half after they turned the ball over too many times in the last few minutes of the second period. Pascual also exploded for 17 points in the opening period alone. The Bedans came roaring back in the third canto on the heroics of sophomore guard Baser Amer, who had eight markers including two triples. Going into the last quarter, San Beda was just a point behind, 58-59.
But in the fourth canto, Abueva and Pascual collaborated again to build an 18-point bubble in the early goings en route to the nine-point win. The so-called "Pinatubo Twins" had six points apiece in that quarter, and finished with 21 and 28 respectively. Second stringer Dexter Maiquez also played big for San Sebastian in that game, contributing 11 markers.
Senior point guard Anjo Caram topscored for San Beda with 17 markers, followed by Amer's 14 and Jake Pascual's 10.
That first encounter had only three deadlocks and as many lead changes. The Stags controlled most of the game. They also dominated the boards, 52-43, including 19 offensive caroms. They also had 17 turnover points and eight more assists than SBC. But the biggest factor for Baste was its 10 of 22 shooting from beyond the arc for a remarkable 45% clip. The Lions only hit 6 of 20 from the same spot.
Despite SBC's league-leading 15-2 record, it approaches this match-up as the underdog. The Stags have not been consistent this season, even bowing to much lesser teams like Emilio Aguinaldo and Mapua. But when up against the two-time defending champion, San Sebastian seems to always come with it's A-game.
The triumvirate of Abueva, Pascual and Sangalang is, without a doubt, the most dominant in college basketball today. In the first round meeting with SBC alone, they combined for 58 markers of the team's 80, or 72.5%. Abueva, who was picked second over-all in the PBA Draft in August, has been a monster this season with norms of 19.9 points (tied for 2nd in the league with Sangalang), 16.4 rebounds (No. 1 in the league) and 6.7 assists (No. 1 in the league). He has posted numerous triple-double outputs throughout his NCAA career, including at least three this year. If not for a suspension in the second round, he could have easily walked away with a second straight MVP plum.
Sangalang will most likely benefit from Abueva's disqualification from the MVP race. The young 6'8" slotman from Pampanga averages 19.9 markers, 12.6 boards and 1.3 blocks this season. He is likely to covet the MVP award. He is also the league's best post player.
Pascual has amazingly recovered from an ACL injury suffered late last year. He immediately sizzled with impressive numbers just a few games after the NCAA season commenced. He accounts for 13.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He has also scattered a total of 48 triples this season to become one of the NCAA's deadliest snipers (along with UPHSD's Jet Vidal who has 50 treys). Like Abueva, Pascual is playing out his last season with the Stags before joining the Smart Gilas National Team's cadet pool.
The "holy trinity" of San Sebastian is expected to play big once more in today's much-awaited bout with the Lions. But the Stags need more contribution from the bench. Last time, Maiquez was the x-factor. Who will step up this time? In the first round meeting, SSC's bench only contributed 15 points.
On the other hand, the Red Lions are playing with balanced firepower each game. None of them landed in the Top 20 highest scorers' list. The highest scoring Lion is skipper Jake Pascual, with 10.2 points per game, good enough for only 23rd in the league.
This is also the first time acting SSC coach Allan Trinidad will handle a Stags-Lions duel. He took over the job after former mentor Topex Robinson resigned early in the second round to focus on his assistant coaching chores with the Alaska Aces.
We can expect fireworks in today's match. Each team is eager to defeat the other. The Stags want to gain a twice-to-beat incentive, which they can have by beating the Lions today. San Beda just wants a piece of San Sebastian, period. For the Lions, there's no such thing as a non-bearing game.
Meanwhile, the Juniors game between the same schools is equally interesting. Both the Red Cubs and Staglets are currently tied at first place with identical 16-1 records. The winner in the 4PM encounter gets the top spot and plays the No. 4 ranked team, which is still a toss-up between the Letran Squires and Mapua Red Robins. In the first round, the Cubs narrowly escaped the Staglets, 77-68, in overtime. Former national youth star Arvin Tolentino exploded for 15 of his 37 markers in the extra period, including three straight three-point bombs, to take the fight out of the Staglets.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
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