Six years after their last finals showdown, Letran and San Beda will reignite one of the NCAA’s most legendary rivalries as they open the Season 101 best-of-three championship series on Wednesday.
The Knights and the Red Lions clash in Game 1 at 2 p.m. at the historic Smart Araneta Coliseum, with both teams eager to strike first in what promises to be an explosive battle.
Both San Beda and Letran survived the grueling “Group of Death” in Group B, with the Red Lions securing the top seed at 9-4 while the Knights clinched third place with an 8-5 record.
The Knights overcame Arellano University’s twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, then swept the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA in the Final Four to secure the first finals ticket.
The Red Lions, meanwhile, faced a tougher path, surviving a gritty De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde squad in a decisive Game 3 of their Final Four clash to formally arrange a San Beda-Letran finale.
During the group stage, San Beda and Letran followed very different roads to the finals as well.
The Mendiola crew won six of their first seven games, including a 68-58 victory over Letran behind the heroics of Janti Miller as the rookie guard picked up the slack in the absence of veterans Yuki Andrada and RC Calimag.
Miller once again shone in their second-round meeting with the Knights, but Letran had enough firepower this time. Rookie sensation Titing Manalili countered the Filipino-American’s career-high outing with his own career-best 26 points, helping Letran get back at San Beda and close out the group stage on a high note.
Yet all previous battles mean nothing now, as both teams reset to square one.
"It’s going to be tough. We have to prepare well, we have to lock in, and the same character that we were able to show today kailangan lumabas siya doon sa finals series," San Beda head coach Yuri Escueta said following their exhausting Game 3 win against the Blazers last Sunday.
"It’s going to be a physical game, we have to be mentally strong. We have to stay healthy first and then prepare mentally come Wednesday’s game."
When it comes to strengths, San Beda and Letran are evenly matched.
The Red Lions and the Knights rank as the top two offensive teams, with San Beda averaging 79.06 points per game and Letran close behind at 78.88. The Knights, however, hold the edge from beyond the arc, leading the league with a 29.26% three-point shooting mark, while the Red Lions follow at 28.72%.
San Beda dominates the boards, averaging 47.0 rebounds per game, but Letran makes up for it in playmaking, leading the league with 19.29 assists per game. Letran’s deeper rotation shows in its bench production, averaging 38.88 points, well ahead of San Beda’s 29.59.
Both teams will test their mettle anew with the title now at stake.
"If down the stretch ang labanan, going into the two minutes, it will boil down syempre kung sino ang mas may gusto tsaka kung sino ‘yung may mas disiplina sa dulo," Letran head coach Allen Ricardo said.
"We will go back to our fundamentals. Just stay focused and stay humble and work hard."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
