Red Lions eye finals berth vs Altas today

Games today (MoA Arena)

12:30 p.m. – Letran vs. San Sebastian

2:30 p.m. – San Beda vs. Perpetual

WITH the controversy surrounding San Beda guard Ryusei Koga set aside for the moment, the Red Lions kick off their bid to reach the finals for the eighth straight time today when they face the Perpetual Help Altas in the Final Four at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The NCAA committee tasked to investigate allegations of Koga playing in a different league last Sept. 17 while the NCAA is ongoing, deferred making a decision in lieu of the semifinals and the finals. This, they announced last Tuesday night in a statement.

“To allow the teams to focus on the impending semifinals and finals, the NCAA has decided to defer the ongoing investigation into players Ryusei Koga of SBC and Jeremiah Taladua of LPU without prejudice to its reopening should new evidence surface in the future,” the statement said.

The Red Lions are expected to come out focused in their campaign to win the crown for a fourth straight time and their seventh in the last eight years. San Beda swept Perpetual Help in the elimination round, winning both encounters, 72-65 and 78-76. Adding even more armor to San Beda is the twice-to-beat bonus that they own.

In the other semis pairing, the Letran Knights battle the San Sebastian Stags with the focus on 6-foot-seven recent PBA draftee Raymund Almazan who was picked third in the PBA draft last weekend by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

Almazan has said that in spite of his drafting, he remains focused on bringing a title to Letran. The Knights are aiming to duplicate their conquests of the Stags in the prelims where they drubbed the latter, 74-69, 75-68. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio