San Beda University will have a chance to close out its NCAA Season 101 finals series against Colegio de San Juan de Letran on Saturday, but it will have to do it without its main weapon: Janti Miller.
The Filipino-American scorer was ejected late in Game 1 after receiving two technical fouls, automatically triggering a one-game suspension for the next game as per league rules.
Miller was whistled for a technical foul late in the second quarter for faking a foul following a three-pointer attempt on Kevin Santos with 14.6 seconds left in the frame.
He received his second technical at the 6:14 mark of the fourth quarter, resulting in an automatic ejection.
Still, the Red Lions were able to pull off the wire-to-wire 89-70 win to draw first blood in the best-of-three series and move to within one win of securing their 24th overall title.
And this is the same fighting spirit head coach Yuri Escueta hopes to emulate come Game 2, where they will look to go for all the marbles despite an incomplete roster.
"We have to be ready. We've been in this situation before, we've played CSB without Janti, we had the opportunities to win," Escueta said.
"Sabi ko nga sa inyo, ang basketball ay 5-on-5. Hindi 'yan one-on-five. It would be nice to have Janti pero 'pag wala si Janti, the other guys need to step up."
Escueta also said they plan to appeal Miller's case.
"Yeah, of course, we have plans of appealing it kasi dalawang flopping e. Hindi naman siya act of violence e. And hindi naman siya magfo-flop kung hindi siya binabangga."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
