Final reckoning: It's Lions or Bombers

San Beda, gunning for a three-peat, and Jose Rizal, out to end a long 36-year title drought, put everything on the line as they dispute the NCAA men’s basketball crown in a winner-take-all match at the Araneta Coliseum today.

But the sudden pullout by the PBL referees from the NCAA may spoil the keenly awaited do-or-die as PBL commissioner Chino Trinidad decided to withdraw the referees and technical officials from league on the eve of the match.

In a letter to Management Committee chair Ding Lozano of Mapua, Trinidad said “we did not make this decision lightly but we are doing so to save our league from the intrigues and malicious minds of supposedly enlightened and powerful individuals both within your organization and from the outside.”

A cage official reportedly called the attention of Trinidad after Jose Rizal evened the best-of-three series with a victory in Game 2, decrying the officiating, particularly in the fourth quarter. It apparently didn’t sit well with the PBL chief.

“The PBL prides itself in training its referees to the utmost, spending considerable sums of money to make sure they are more than qualified to exercise their profession. We usually do not officiate games outside of our own league but made an exception in the case of the NCAA because they are fellow stakeholders and had made the proper representations,” said Trinidad.

The NCAA was meeting at press time, trying to find solutions to the impasse with another one set early today.

But the PBL is standing pat on its decision, leaving the NCAA with no other choice but to look for other referees to officiate the last basketball game of the season.

“We are making this stand in behalf of all game officials who have had to bear the brunt of abuse when all they ask for is a chance to make a decent and honest living in a game that everyone loves and enjoys,” Trinidad said.

“We are sorry we could not finish what we started but this needs to be done immediately and dramatically. We hope you will understand why we are doing this for the sake of what decency is left in Philippine basketball and sports,” Trinidad said.

The Red Lions pulled off a 72-68 victory in Game One of the best-of-three series last Wednesday but the Heavy Bombers equalized with a 62-60 triumph in Game Two last Friday.

That set up a do-or-die showdown for the championship at 3 p.m. before an expected record crowd.

“Whoever wants it is going to win. We will give everything we got because we want it more,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim.

Jose Rizal mentor Ariel Vanguardia said they will need to dish out nothing short of a perfect game for the Bombers to pull the rug from under the back-to-back champions.

“They’re a very strong team, you really have to find ways to stop San Beda. They have so many weapons and it has to be a perfect game for us to beat them,” said Vanguardia, who incidentally turns 36 today.

“Hopefully, it will be a happy birthday for me,” said Vanguardia.

Although they lost Game Two, the Lions remained the slight favorites to bring home the crown after they flashed resiliency despite losing Nigerian Sam Ekwe and top defender Jay-R Taganas on fouls in the fourth quarter.

“As a whole, I’m not happy with the way we played Game Two. But if there’s anything good about it, we didn’t give up in that game. We just missed a couple of shots in the end that would have turned things around for us,” said Lim.

But the Bombers, based on their Game Two triumph, seemed to have shown more desire to win as they thwarted the Lions’ repeated rallies to move closer to ending the league’s longest title drought.

Now, the Bombers’ heart and the Lions’ ability to fight back will be put to test in a no-tomorrow match expected to go down-to-the-wire.

Meanwhile, a few hundred upper box and general admission tickets will be on sale early today at the Big Dome’s ticket centers.

In the opener, the league sold 15,318 tickets with Game Two drawing 19,252 paying patrons.

A victory by San Beda would complete a three-peat while Jose Rizal is eyeing its first-ever title since 1972.

Odds are slightly stacked on the Lions’ side with teams that took the opener winning three of the last five finals that went the full route.

That included the Lions, who took Game One, 71-57, lost Game Two, 70-52, but hung tough to eke out a 68-67 win over the Philippine Christian U Dolphins in 2006.

Two, however, won the crown after dropping the first game, including the Letran Knights to the San Sebastian Stags in 2005.

Focus will be on San Beda’s Nigerian Sam Ekwe and Jose Rizal’s James Sena.

After a pair of forgettable games in the Final Four, Ekwe seemed to have recovered his old form while Sena, a 19-year-old 6-5 center, has been dishing out solid games for the Bombers.

“He’s the heart and soul of this team,” said Vanguardia.