De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and Colegio de San Juan de Letran, both eager to rewrite their respective schools' history, will finally begin their NCAA Season 98 men's basketball title showdown on Sunday.
After almost a week's rest, top seed Benilde and three-peat seeking Letran return to the hardcourt and collide in Game 1 of their best-of-three finals series at 3 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum.
Benilde has yet to win a single game against reigning back-to-back champion Letran this season.
The Knights pulled off an 81-75 victory against the Blazers on September 23, handing the Taft crew its first taste of defeat after a 3-0 start to the season. The Muralla crew repeated over Benilde on November 5, eking out a 74-66 win to claim the top spot momentarily.
Benilde, though, was able to finish atop the ladder at the conclusion of the elimination round by virtue of Letran's loss to Jose Rizal University in its last assignment before the Final Four.
Still, the Knights are not about to take the Blazers lightly, especially with Benilde more than eager to end a 22-year title drought.
Letran is also shooting for a championship three-peat, which has been rare for the school despite being the second winningest team in the seniors level. Of Letran's 19 titles so far, an occurrence of three straight titles came only once, when the Knights ruled in 1982 through 1984.
"Syempre masaya and thank you, Lord, na we're given a chance to play sa Finals again. Kami naman, we take our game day-by-day and we're not thinking sa mga sweep," Letran head coach Bonnie Tan said.
"Basta kami, kung ano 'yung binigay sa amin, ayun lang and we're happy na at least nakatungtong ulit kami sa Finals."
The Blazers are also in the hunt for history.
Benilde last won a title in 2000 behind the likes of Sunday Salvacion, Jondan Salvador, and Al Magpayo.
And with a new breed of Blazers in the form of Will Gozum, Migs Oczon, Miggy Corteza, JC Cullar, and Robi Nayve, to name a few, Benilde is tipped to go all out to bring back the crown to Taft after 22 long years.
Head coach Charles Tiu shared that compared to their Season 97 campaign, they are better prepared this season but he's also hoping for his players to get even better as they go in a battle against a tough foe.
"Everyone was off for two years and you're trying to build a system, it's not easy. But now, we have time to prepare and I told the guys before the game that everything we do, there's a reason for it," Tiu said.
"Sometimes things don't make sense when we get mad or we don't get mad at them for certain things and we're trying to form good habits and it's slowly showing."
"We're not there yet and we can still be better. And we have to be better if we want to win the championship."
Watch the game live on GMA and via livestream at the social media accounts of NCAA Philippines and GMA Sports PH.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
