All eyes now on Stags-Knights knockout game
Letran extends its mastery of three-year finalist San Sebastian this season, with an emphatic 92-74 victory to force a rubber match on Monday for the right to face San Beda for the NCAA crown. The Knights defeated the Stags on opening day, 80-74, and then on September 15, 82-67. All other teams fell prey to the Stags this year, except Letran.
What's interesting is that Letran star Kevin Alas posted his best scoring outputs this season against SSC. On opening day, Alas started the year on fire with 31 markers against Calvin Abueva and company. In their second round encounter, he sizzled with 23 points in 29 minutes of action. And in their third meeting, the prolific son of coach Louie Alas set a new career-high in the NCAA with 43 points, the most by any player this season. He also shot an incredible 10-of-13 from the three-ball. Kevin just loves playing against the Stags.
Abueva, the league's leading scorer with 20.1 points per outing, still managed to finish with 21 markers. But without ace gunner Ronald Pascual, who was suspended for one game for a punching foul against Lion Rome Dela Rosa, the Stags groped for form the whole game against the Knights' suffocating defense. Probable MVP Ian Sangalang only chipped in 13 points and five rebounds, a far cry from his norms of 19.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game.
Ironically, the Knights succeeded in repeating over the Stags even in a high-scoring game. On a normal day, this would have favored SSC being the league's best offensive team. But Letran was also relentless in defense, not giving up too many open shots for the Stags.
As expected, the game was highly physical from start to finish, with ejections from both sides and unsportsmanlike fouls called. Abueva appeared to have kicked Letran's Jonathan Belorio in the groin during a rebound play in the third period. Kevin's brother Jun-jun was ejected for throwing a punch on SSC's Michael Miranda. Stag AJ Vitug was also thrown out of the game for elbowing Knight Carlo Lituania, who was meted a technical foul for taunting.
But overall, credit should be given to Coach Alas for an excellent game plan. The Stags didn't know what hit them. They never tasted a lead in the game. Letran finished the opening period with a convincing 27-7, and continued the rest of the game pushing the pace. The Knights' energy never wilted as they continued to pound on the hapless Stags. This time, organized play prevailed over the freestyle game of the Stags.
War is expected when the Stags and Knights meet for a fourth time this year, but this time in a do-or-die encounter. Expect more physical action as both teams fight for life.
For the Knights to complete a sweep of the Stags this year, they must continue with their organized game and play as a team.
For the Stags, it's about time they put the clamps on Kevin. If Alas comes out with another explosive game, the Stags might just miss the title round for the first time in four years.
A Letran win will make the title series very interesting as both the Knights and Red Lions gun for a 17th NCAA crown. They lead the NCAA with 16 senior basketball crowns each.
Meanwhile, San Beda survived a gallant stand by the University of Perpetual Help and earned a trip to the NCAA finals for the seventh consecutive season. The Red Lions won five of the last six championships in the 88-year old league. But before securing the finals berth, they had to go through the proverbial eye of the needle as the Altas fought hard to force a sudden death, leading at the end of the first three quarters. But Nigerian recruit Olaide Adeogun and sophomore sensation Baser Amer collaborated in endgame to stage a come-from-behind win for SBC, 56-52, and earn the first finals ticket. Adeogun finished with a season high 23 markers and 14 boards, on top of two blocks, while Amer collected 12 rebounds, nine points, six assists, two steals and a block.
The Lions trailed most of the way in the game, even falling behind by as many as nine points. But it was a low-scoring match that favored the two-time defending champions. San Beda is currently the league's top defensive team, limiting opponents to just 58.9 points per game. So while playing catch up for more than 80% of the game, rookie coach Ronnie Magsanoc was unfazed. The tempo of the game was being dictated by San Beda.
The Altas began the game with a triple from graduating star Jet Vidal. As expected, Coach Aric Del Rosario went to his deadly snipers to counter SBC's vaunted defense. Perpetual Help drew a total of eight treys, including three from Vidal, four from Nigerian import Nosa Omorogbe, and one from George Allen. But their outside guns turned sour in the last few minutes as the Lions turned on the pressure with a big push in endgame. Down by three with 26 ticks left, Jet-sanity tried to salvage the situation for UPHSD but flubbed all three of his attempts from behind the arc. He bid goodbye to the NCAA and his alma mater with 15 markers. Omorogbe, who was reportedly sacked from the team last week, also churned in big numbers of 15 points, five steals and four rebounds.
The Red Lions also dominated the boards, 52-41, including 16 offensive caroms. Rebounding is one of the strengths of the Altas being third in the league with 47 boards a game, as opposed to the Lions' 44. But San Beda struggled for most of the game due to its 24 turnovers, more than half of which were committed in the first half. The Bedans also went 0-of-9 from beyond the arc.
The Lions await the winner of the Letran-San Sebastian knockout encounter tomorrow. Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series begins on Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
In juniors action, the Red Cubs and Staglets arranged a title showdown after defeating separate rivals yesterday. Defending three-time champion San Beda nipped Letran, 61-57 to keep its four-peat hopes alive, while San Sebastian escaped with a 58-55 squeaker over St. Benilde-La Salle Greenhills on a desperation triple at the buzzer by Onyok Velasco Jr.
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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