NCAA stepladder playoffs on: JRU vs San Sebastian
THE stepladder playoffs for Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament officially kick off today, beginning with the first-stage clash between the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers and San Sebastian Stags.
Set for 3: 30 p. m. at the Mall of Asia Arena, the Bombers and Stags, the third and fourth seeds, respectively, duke it out in a knockout game to advance to the next round of the competition.
The Kalentong-based Bombers secured the third spot after finishing the two-round eliminations with an 11-7 record.
JRU, coached by Philippine Basketball Association legend Vergel Meneses, is being led in Season 93 by veteran guard Teytey Teodoro with 14 points a game, backstopped by Jed Mendoza with 13.5 points and Ervin Grospe 10.8 markers.
The team has had the number of San Sebastian this season, having beaten the latter in their two elimination encounters.
But the Bombers are coming off a two-week lull after playing their last game on Oct. 13.
On the other end, the Stags had to take a longer route to book a semifinal spot, needing to survive the Letran Knights, 74-69, in a knockout game last Tuesday in their onegame playoff to determine who gets to advance to the Final Four.
Both San Sebastian and Letran, along with the Arellano Chiefs, ended up with identical 9-9 records at the end of the classification phase for joint fourth and had to fight it out in a series of playoffs with the Stags eventually coming out on top.
Against the Knights, veteran forward Michael Calisaan had a career-game of 36 points to tow his team to the victory.
He was all over the place for San Sebastian, even hitting a dagger three-pointer with 18 seconds remaining to pretty much put away the game from the reach of the Knights.
Calisaan also had 10 boards while teammate Ryan Costelo had 13 points, nine coming in the fourth quarter.
“This win showed how the team is very deserving to enter the Final Four. They’ve been working hard and I’m happy we made it,” said San Sebastian coach Egay Macaraya following their big win on Tuesday.
“It seems like JRU is our jinx for this season as we have yet to beat them. But we always had a chance against them in those games and the Final Four is a different ball game. So we’ll see,” he added when asked for his thoughts on their game against the Bombers.
This year’s Final Four in the NCAA was rendered a stepladder after the top seeds Lyceum Pirates (18-0) swept the elimination round and booked a direct pass to the best-of-three finals.
The winner of today’s game between JRU and San Sebastian moves on to the next KO stage against the second- seeded and defending champions San Beda Red Lions on Nov. 7. —