TOP seed San Beda tries to continue its post-season mastery of Mapua and move closer to winning its third straight crown  when the Final Four of the 84th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament fires off today at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

Game time is at 2 p.m., to be followed by the other semifinals match pitting No. 2 Jose Rizal University (JRU) and No. 3 Letran at 4 p.m.

It will be the third straight time the Red Lions and the Cardinals battle each other for a championship berth. Just like in their previous Final Four encounters, San Beda enjoys a twice-to-beat advantage against Mapua.

“But we don’t want to put ourselves in a do-or-die situation, so we’ll do our best to finish them [Cardinals] right away and go straight to the finals,” said coach Frankie Lim of the Red Lions, who ended the double-eliminations with the tournament-best 11-3 record.

But the Mendiola-based dribblers are expected to have their hands full, unlike in the past two years when they swept their head-to-head series. The Red Lions and Cardinals split their duel this season. Mapua won, 53-48, on August 23. The Cardinals are also entering the game with six victories in their last eight outings.

“Last year tinalo nila kami in all our elimination matches. But this year, we split our elims matchup. We’ll try to bring back flashes of that game,” said coach Leo Isaac of Mapua, which grabbed the fourth semifinals slot after beating San Sebastian, 63-54, in their knockout match Wednesday.

“We’ll see what we can do. Maybe we’ll bring back our slow break game again, maybe,” added Isaac.

The Lions are also coming off a nine-day respite, which could have either recharged them or had them rusty.

Meanwhile, JRU hopes to repeat over Letran and advance to their first finals stint in seven years.

The Heavy Bombers trounced the Knights, 69-53, in their playoff match Wednesday to clinch the No.2 seed and the twice-to-beat incentive that goes with it.

“Defense will spell the difference. We’ve improved on that department in the past games, but we’ll have to do a better job because Letran will not give this to us easily,” said JRU coach Ariel Vanguardia.

From AIG to USA?

Manchester United’s shirts read AIG. They might as well say USA.

The US government’s $85-billion takeover of American International Group Inc. (AIG) gave it control of United’s shirt sponsorship, one of the most visible in sports after the team won two of soccer’s biggest club championships last season.

Tigers, Pages top UAAP taekwondo

UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) topped the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 71 men’s and women’s taekwondo competitions but lost the juniors’ crown to University of the East (UE) Thursday at the Far Eastern University Gym.

‘NC’ Final 4 too close to call

TOP seed San Beda tries to continue its post-season mastery of Mapua and move closer to winning its third straight crown  when the Final Four of the 84th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament fires off today at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

Devance at home with Aces

Joe Devance and LA Tenorio had 15 points apiece to power the Alaska Aces past the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 77-90, Wednesday in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Preseason Tournament at the Lyceum of the Philippines Gym.

FILIPINO PREMIER LEAGUE STARTS AT PHILSPORTS

THE Filipino Premier League (FPL) kicks off Sunday at the PhilSports Field with two matches.

Mamiit opens RP Davis Cup bid against Kazakhstan

CECIL MAMIIT opens up the Philippines’ tough campaign in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I second-round relegation tie against Kazakhstan No. 2 Yuri Schukin Friday at The National Tennis Center in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Tough Turf: Don Enrico now on top

DON ENRICO zoomed to the top of the standings with earnings of P4.68 million as the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) released the latest in the earnings of major players from January to August this year.