BITTER rivals San Beda and Letran clash for the No. 1 seeding, while Mapua and Arellano University square off for the fourth and last Final Four slot in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament on Tuesday at The Arena in San Juan City.
The Knights routed the Perpetual Help Altas, 93-64, last Friday to arrange the 4 p.m. rematch with the Red Lions.
The Cardinals and the Chiefs face off at 2 p.m., with the winner booking the last slot to the Final Four while forging a 4 p.m. showdown with Jose Rizal University (JRU) for the No. 3 seeding on Thursday also at the MOA Arena.
JRU, Mapua and Arellano University wound up in a three-way tie at third to fifth places but the Heavy Bombers had the highest quotient of 20 points against the Cardinals’ -1 and the Chiefs’ -20.
Letran and San Beda split their first two encounters this year with the former taking the first, 93-80, on July 16 and the latter snatching the second, 77-73, last week.
Interestingly, San Beda has ended up the top seed in the last nine years and has never lost its previous three playoff games for the top spot against Arellano University, 97-69, last season; San Sebastian, 88-85, four years ago; and San Sebastian again, 71-65, six seasons back.
The Knights, in contrast, are gunning to finish No. 1 for the first time since accomplishing the feat 10 years ago, the same year they won their last championship by beating former member Philippine Christian University.
The Cardinals will be trying to return to the Final Four since making it that far five years ago before they crashed to fifth, sixth and two dead-last finishes in the next five seasons.
In juniors’ play, Lyceum of the Philippines University and La Salle-Greenhills collide at 12 noon for the last spot in the Final Four.