ONLY one of the two preseason favorites in San Beda and St. Benilde will play in the NCAA Season 101 finals as the two squads are to clash in the other semifinals pairing which starts this Tuesday, 2:30 PM at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Red Lions, the most dominant team in NCAA men’s basketball, will look to get back in the finals after missing out last year. Standing in their way would be the Blazers, last year’s runners-up, and a team hungry to finally win one after missing out twice in the finals over the past three years.
READ: NCAA SEMIS: Altas, Knights joust in battle of offense vs. defense
Let’s take a look at how they match-up against each other.
How they got here
The two teams were probably the most impressive squads in the classification phase as despite battling injuries to top stars, the two teams still ruled over Group B, the so-called Group of Death, after both ending up with 9-4 records.
The Red Lions, however, took the top seed with two wins over St. Benilde.
Despite missing the services of Yukien Andrada and Jomel Puno for most games in the classification, the Red Lions still ruled over the tournament – with three of its four losses coming within six points.
And the only team to win by double digits over them in the Lyceum Pirates? Well, they dispatched them handily in their quarterfinals meeting.
READ: San Beda overwhelms Lyceum to book return trip to Final Four
Like the Red Lions, the Blazers played depleted. They missed the services of Tony Ynot to start the season while reigning MVP Allen Liwag missed six games in the classification phase. And like their semifinals foe, St. Benilde rose above it to finish second in the group.
They had the rough luck of the draw as they had to take on the Mapua Cardinals early in the quarterfinals. As expected, the defending champions wouldn’t give up their title without a fight, stunning the higher-seeded Blazers to force a KO match.
READ: St. Benilde holds off Mapua to forge semis clash with San Beda
The Blazers, though, showed some grit as they pushed back in the KO math to earn their place in the semifinals.
A whole new ballgame
Throughout the tournament, San Beda’s had St. Benilde’s number.
The two teams opened the league’s basketball festitives, with the Red Lions taking a 96-85 win over the Blazers. Yuri Escueta and his boys then doubled-down in their second meeting, taking an 80-76 win to sweep coach Charles Tiu’s squad.
Still, the semis will be a different story altogether – or so Benilde will hope.
But there’s plenty of reason to hope for St. Benilde as it’s gonna come in playing complete, a luxury it didn’t have after playing without Ynot in the first game and Liwag in the second.
Same monsters, different beasts
Both teams are coming in as two of the most well-rounded teams in the tournament, ranking in the upper half of both in points per game and points allowed per game in the league.
But they do it a little bit differently.
Despite missing the services of Liwag for a lengthy period this season, St. Benilde lords over the paint behind the steady play of Shawn Umali, and plenty of solid slashers in Justine Sanchez, Raffy Celiz and Ian Torres.
Benilde ranks second in points in the paint, at 37.7 a night, and second chance points at 13.7 per game.
When Liwag’s playing, the Blazers are almost untouchable down low.
The same can be said about San Beda, but with its perimeter players. From Janti Miller, Yukien Andrada and Bryan Sajonia, there is no shortage of shot creators for the Red Lions who can heat up from beyond the arc or do damage in the mid-range.
Plenty of history here
There’s still no love lost between some members of the San Beda community with its former players in Ynot, Sanchez and Gab Cometa.
Just listen to that San Beda crowd react to these three each and you’d understand.
The three were supposed to be the foundation of the Red Lions after the departure of the likes of JB Bahio and James Kwekuteye but they opted to move out and join an on-the rise Blazers squad back then.
Still, the Red Lions brushed off that departure, winning the Season 99 title and they’d want nothing more than to deny these three a title of their own by ousting them in the semifinals.
Match up to watch: Yukien Andrada vs. Justine Sanchez
With the tandem of Liwag and Umali expected to give San Beda problems in the paint, and the perimeter pairing of Sajonia and Miller poised to the same on St. Benilde in the perimeter – this series will swing on how the two starting forwards for each team will play in Andrada and Sanchez.
As Miller and Sajonia took the lead on offense, Andrada has willingly embraced the three-and-d role for this team. Still, the San Beda captain has proven that he can still carry when called upon, evident in his 23 point night against St. Benilde in their second meeting.
For the season, he’s putting up averages of 10.4 points a game on a 36.3 percent shooting clip from behind the arc, with 2.5 threes made.
Sanchez, on the other hand, has proven capable of being the team’s first option especially in the games where both Liwag and Ynot were unavailable.
And while his role has been reduced with Benilde coming back to full health, Sanchez remains a game changer as he ended up with averages of 12.5 points per game, 5.8 boards and two assists.
Safe to say, the team who gets their small forward going will definitely be in a better position to win this series.
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