Red Lions heavily favored vs Knights
Against a team that went 18-0 in the eliminations, beating them twice, Letran forward Jerrick Balanza knows the Knights have to bring their A-game against the San Beda Red Lions in Game 1 of the NCAA Season 95 Finals today at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
No. 3 seed Letran advanced to the best-of-three title series after surviving the stepladder playoffs with wins against No. 4 San Sebastian College-Recoletos (85-80) and No. 2 Lyceum of the Philippines University (92-88) last week.
But next are the Red Lions. “Alam naman natin na 18-0 sila, they’re the defending champions. Sila paborito, underdog na naman kami. Galing sila sa mahabang pahinga, so they’re coming in fresh sa series,” said Balanza, who is in his final year with Letran.
San Beda survived Letran’s comeback to score a 70-66 win in the first round last August 10, then came through with a more convincing 75-63 victory in the second round last October 1.
Regardless, Letran’s do-it-all guard Fran Yu, who averaged 15 points, six rebounds and four assists in the playoffs, is confident the two wins they had in the stepladder have made them stronger as a team.
“Sa tingin naman namin may mga na-gain kami sa unang dalawang laro. Maganda iyung mga panalo namin, which I think toughened us not just individually but more importantly as a team,” said Yu.
“Hopefully madala namin yun sa series, lalo sa Game 1. May momentum galing sa mga panalo pero alam naman natin na well-prepared sila, handang handa sila for the finals series.”
Letran coach Bonnie Tan said it was all about playing together, similar to the effort they gave in beating Lyceum, which – like San Beda with Donald Tankoua – also had Cameroonian import Mike Nzeusseu.