By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

THE men’s basketball competition of Season 95 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association churned out an eventful elimination round with four peat-seeking San Beda Red Lions stamping its class by sweeping their way to the finals and rendering the semifinals a step-ladder.

San Beda (18-0) had it solid throughout the two-round classification phase, taking all comers and various forms of challenges from their opponents to complete a sweep of their assignments.

The Lions booked win number 18 on Oct. 17, defeating the second-seeded Lyceum Pirates in dominant fashion, 85-62, underscoring further their strong claim for another league title.

As has always been the case, San Beda relied on a total effort on both ends of the court to steadily dismantle Lyceum on its way to the sweep-clinching victory.

Donald Tankoua led the Lions with 26 points and eight rebounds, followed by Calvin Oftana with 18 points and 10 boards.

James Canlas finished with 17 points while guard Evan Nelle dished out 10 assists to go along with nine rebounds and four points.

“It’s a bit of a fulfilment on my part that we got the sweep. But our work is not yet done. It’s going to be a tough finals whoever we are going to face,” said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez.

With the sweep, the second to be fashioned out in three years after Lyceum did the same in Season 93, the Lions earned a direct ticket to the best-of-three finals and will await the winner of the step-ladder semifinals which will begin on Nov. 5.

In the finals, San Beda brings with it its top-ranked defense which only allowed 61.7 points a game in the eliminations. On offense, the Lions are not doing bad either, averaging 80.7 points, good for fourth in the league.

The Lions also have five players averaging eight points or more per contest, led by leading most valuable player candidate Oftana (15.8 ppg).

As a team, San Beda is the leader in a number of categories, including total field goal percentage (44.7%), three-point field goal percentage (33.2%) and assists (19.2 dimes) as well as the least turnover-prone (14.5 miscues per outing).

STEP-LADDER
Meanwhile, slugging it out in the step-ladder semifinals are Lyceum (13-5), third seeds Letran Knights (12-6) and number four team San Sebastian Stags (11-7).

First to collide in the first step are the Knights and Stags.

Letran, the best offensive team in the NCAA in the elimination round with an average of 84.3 points per contest, is led by veteran Jerrick Balanza with 15.1 points, followed by Larry Muyang (12.8 ppg), Ato Ular (11.2 ppg) and Bonbon Batiller (10.5 ppg).

The Knights finished the classification phase on a high note, racking up three straight victories.

“Of course, we wanted to be on top of the standings but we ended up here (third). We’ll just work on where we are. After all, it’s not about how you start the season but how you finish it,” said Letran coach Bonnie Tan.

San Sebastian, for its part, tinkered with early elimination but eventually found the finishing kick it needed to advance to the next round as the fourth seed.

The Stags’ push is led by league top-scorer Allyn Bulanadi (20.3 ppg), who exploded for 44 points in their victory over the Perpetual Help Altas in their final game of the eliminations on Friday to clinch a Final Four spot.

Veteran RK Ilagan is also steady for San Sebastian with a scoring norm of 14.7 ppg and 4.1 apg, both seventh best in the league.

“We’re happy to be in the semifinals. It will be a long break for us before we play again but at least the boys can get their rest and recover,” said Stags coach Egay Macaraya after their win over the Altas.

The winner between Letran and San Sebastian in the step-ladder meets Lyceum in another do-or-die match for the right to face San Beda in the finals.

The Pirates are led by Jaycee Marcelino (18.2 points) and Mike Nzeusseu (15.8 ppg). As a team they are the second-best in offense with an average of 81.6 points.

The step-ladder begins on Nov. 5 with the battle between Letran and San Sebastian and the winner advancing against Lyceum on Nov. 8. Venue is the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

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