Lions, Knights seek dream title duel

Battle Bombers, Cardinals in Final Four

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda and Letran hope to hurdle two tough rivals and seal a highly anticipated duel for the NCAA men’s basketball crown as the Red Lions tangle with the Jose Rizal U Bombers and the Knights clash with the Mapua Cardinals at the start of the Final Four at the MOA Arena today.

Finishing tied on top at 13-5 after the double round elims, the Lions and the Knights need just to beat their respective rivals once to arrange a best-of-three showdown for the championship. Letran faces Mapua at 2 p.m. while San Beda slugs it out with JRU at 4 p.m.

SBC coach Jamike Jarin and Letran mentor Aldin Ayo, however, said they need to focus on the task at hand first before ever thinking of the finals.

“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 steered the Lions to the No. 1 seed for the 10th straight season after the reigning five-time champions beat the Knights, 83-78, in a playoff last week.

The Lions are eyeing a record 10th straight finals appearance and a sixth straight championship while the Knights are trying to make a return trip to the finals after winning the crown two years ago.

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

San Beda swept Jose Rizal, 88-69, and 83-75, in the elims while Letran and Mapua split their head-to-head duel with the former scoring a come-from-behind 86-83 win in the first round and the latter bouncing back with a 82-77 triumph last Sept. 15.

The Cardinals are actually coming into their semis showdown with the Knights oozing with confidence with gunners Josan Nimes and CJ Isit both in tip-top form.

“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 JRU last Friday to clinch the No. 3 seeding and a faceoff with Letran.

The Cards, led by Nigerian import Allwell Oraeme, also vowed to dominate the paint and the boards against the all-Filipino Letran side, which will be led by Kevin Racal, Rey Nambatac and Mark Cruz.

“The Knights don’t have an import so we have an advantage there,” said Isit.

Oraeme normed 20.5 points, 29 rebounds and 3.5 blocks against the Knights this season with the Cardinals also confident of matching the Knights’ speed.

“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.”

For the Bombers, they would need to find a way to just slow down the Lions’ vaunted running attack.

“We have no other recourse but to play defense and try to slow the pace,” said JRU coach Vergel Meneses.