Lions, Knights eye to dispose of semis foes

Games Tuesday

(MOA Arena, Pasay)

12 p.m. – Mapua vs Arellano (jrs)

2 p.m. – Letran vs Mapua (srs)

4 p.m. – San Beda vs. Jose Rizal (srs)

MANILA, Philippines – San Beda and Letran gun for a victory against Jose Rizal and Mapua, respectively, Tuesday with hopes of arranging a title showdown between two of the league's fiercest rivals in the 91st NCAA basketball tournament at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

Finishing tied on top with 13-5 (win-loss) records, the Lions face off with the dangerous Bombers at 4 p.m. while the Knights tackle the surging Cardinals at 2 p.m. needing just a victory to set up a best-of-three title showdown.

The Lions will be eyeing a record 10th straight finals appearance and a sixth straight championship and ninth in the last decade while the Knights will be shooting for a return trip to the finals since making it that far two seasons ago and their first crown since winning it all 11 years back.

Both coaches Jamike Jarin of San Beda and Aldin Ayo of Letran, who are interestingly on their first ever season as college coaches, like to think of the job at hand first before looking that far.

"I'm lying if I say there's no pressure to win. My thinking is just to approach everything on a day per day and game per game basis," said Jarin, who has steered the Lions to the No. 1 seed for the 10th straight season after beating the Knights, 83-78, in a playoff last week.

"We have to deal with Mapua first before anything. If we can't, anything beyond the Final Four will only be just a dream," said Ayo.

San Beda swept Jose Rizal, 88-69, in their first round meeting on Aug. 6 and, 83-75, in the second on Sept. 3 while Letran and Mapua split their two duels this year with the former seizing the first with a come-from-behind 86-83 win on Aug. 14 and the latter getting back with an 82-77 triumph on Sept. 15.

Interestingly, the Cardinals will come into their Final Four showdown with the Knights with a healthy Josan Nimes and CJ Isit, who were saddled with various injuries the whole season.

"We have a good shot of making the finals because we're peaking at the right time and most of us are now playing healthy," said Isit, who exploded with a career-best 27-point performance in their 81-76 win over Jose Rizal last Friday to clinch the No. 3 seed and a Final Four date with Letran.

One of Letran's weaknesses Mapua is expected to exploit is the former's lack of size.

"They don't have an import so we have an advantage there," said Isit.

Isit was referring to their Nigerian import Allwell Oraeme, who abused the Knights by averaging a whopping 20.5 points, 29 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in their two games this season.

Isit is also confident the Cardinals could match up with the Knights speed for speed while saying they should at least get in front of Letran's big three – Kevin Racal, Rey Nambatac and Mark Cruz.

"We both play an up-tempo game so we have to play defense and I think we can keep up with them," said Isit. "We also need to stay in front and contain their three-point shooting because there's really no stopping them.

"We just need to bother their shots," he added.

For the Bombers, they would need to find a way to just slow down the San Beda juggernaut.

"We have no other recourse but to play defense and try to slow the phase," said Jose Rizal coach Vergel Meneses.