SAN BEDA showed it could win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) crown even without a foreign reinforcement.
With its last three NCAA titles built around Nigerian Sam Ekwe and American Sudan Daniel, the Red Lions fought courageously in the last two games of the season and silenced San Sebastian with a hard-earned 57-55 victory in Game Two on Wednesday to sweep the 87th seniors basketball finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Dave Marcelo had the towering presence of Daniel in the series while David Semerad was huge in the clincher with a game-high 15 points to guide San Beda to its 16th NCAA title, matching Letran’s record in the country’s oldest collegiate league.
“It’s a great feeling. Walang kaparis,” said Red Lions head coach Frankie Lim, who notched his fourth NCAA title and fifth in the last six seasons for the school.
“I told the players that this is our last game and they responded. This is the prize we got with our hard work,” he added
The victory was extra sweet for the Red Lions, who played the season minus Daniel who was sidelined by an ACL injury he incurred in a pre-season tournament.
And Marcelo, the stocky six-foot-four center, filled Daniel’s big shoes, providing the inside treat in the best-of-three championship series where he averaged eight points and 13.5 rebounds.
“He deserved it. He played very well in the series,” said Lim of his five-year veteran who was named the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Marcelo, together with Jake Pascual, Kyle Pascual and the Semerad Twins, David and Anthony, connived against the dreaded “Big Three” of the Stags—Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang and Ronald Pascual. The Trio combined for 40 of the team’s 55 points in the game.
“Kailangan naming ma-overcome ’yun [Big Three] para maka-contribute sa team,” said Marcelo, who together with Daniel and Garvo Lanete are graduating this year. “Mahirap nung mawala si Su [Daniel] but we stuck together as a team.”
The Stags were in control in Game Two after leading by as many as eight points, 48-40, with 1:59 remaining in the third period. But the Red Lions ended the quarter with an 8-2 blast to keep the game close, 48-50.
Semerad started the fourth with a jumper to tie the count at 50-all and after Sangalang converted in the shade, San Beda scored the next five points fora 55-52 lead with 5:53 remaining. Both teams struggled offensively in the fourth with San Beda hitting four-of-16 and San Sebastian groping with a two-of-19 stint in the final 10 minutes.
Semerad had an incomplete three-point play to give the Red Lions a 57-53 spread, 53 ticks left. Jovit de la Cruz buried a baseline jumper in the next play to push the Stags within two, 55-57, and had the chance to tie or grab the lead after Semerad missed a jumper in the next play.
But Pascual’s three-point attempt was too wide and went out of bounds with 2.6 seconds left and the celebration already starting at the San Beda side of the coliseum.
“We fought a good fight,” said the Stags’ rookie mentor Topex Robinson.
Pascual had 15 points, all from the three-point area on a 5-of-19 shooting from the field. Sangalang added 13 while Abueva, the season MVP, had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
