by Kevin Estrada
All roads lead to Cubao.
The Final Four of the NCAA Season 101 Men’s Basketball tournament is now complete after a thrilling week of quarterfinal action, with San Beda, Perpetual Help, St. Benilde, and San Juan De Letran all set to take their act to a higher level on December 2, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Under the bright lights of the Big Dome, the quest to succeed deposed champions Mapúa continues in an exciting new format, where the semifinals are now played in a best-of-three format, instead of the usual twice-to-beat advantage.
After securing their school’s best regular-season record percentage and position-wise in 21 years, the high-flying Altas are the last of the Group A teams left standing as they will battle the unpredictable Knights, who overturned the twice-to-win disadvantage after finishing third in Group B.
It will be the second playoff meeting between the two sides, with Letran winning their lone encounter three years ago en route to their sweep in Season 97.
Bannered by the dynamic backcourt of sophomore Mark Gojo Cruz and transfer Patrick Sleat, the Perps disposed of Jose Rizal, 81-74, at the Mall of Asia Arena last November 27.
On the other hand, Letran had taken down Group A runner-up Arellano, first by negating the Chiefs’ twice-to-beat incentive 87-78 last November 26 at the San Juan Arena, and then formally knocked them out with a 77-69 decision two days later.
In those twin wins, the men from Muralla were bannered by their vaunted guard combo of John Sherick Estrada and Jonathan Manalili.
The other semifinal pitted the top two teams in Group B, where the Red Lions secured the top spot due to their 2-0 record over the Blazers, after they drew level at 9-4. It also marked their third postseason meeting in the last four years, with CSB winning both of their semifinal tiffs in one game.
Led by senior forward Yukien Andrada and transfer guard and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Agjanti Miller, the Red Lions easily dispatched Lyceum in a wire-to-wire 91-67 rout on the same day as the Altas’ win.
Meanwhile, the Blazers lost their playoff incentive after the Cardinals routed them 73-58 in San Juan, before surviving another scare to end Mapúa’s reign with a nail-biting 74-72 squeaker in the same venue.
The Blazers took turns in stepping up when it mattered the most, as Raffy Celis stood out in their decider, while burly forward Shawn Umali has been one of those to rely on apart from reigning MVP, center Allen Liwag.
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