Red Lions escape Letran Knights to inch closer to another NCAA three-peat

The San Beda College Red Lions find themselves just a win away from completing another three-peat as they survived the hard-fighting Letran Knights, 62-60, in Game One of the best-of-three Finals in the 88th NCAA men’s basketball tournament last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

Letran’s best offensive weapon, Kevin Alas, proved to be their undoing as the spitfire guard turned the ball over after he was trapped in the corner by San Beda guard Ryuzei Koga and Jake Pascual and passed the ball off to the waiting hands of San Beda’s Baser Amer with 0.8 remaining on the clock.

The Knights gained that chance to tie the game after San Beda big man Ola Adeogun muffed both his freethrows with 20.9 seconds remaining.

Before that, Alas split his freethrows while guard Mark Cruz added a bucket off the offensive board that got them within two, 62-60, with 38 ticks left.

San Beda proved to be Letran’s kryptonite as the Red Lions stopped the Knights’ eight-game winning run. San Beda was the last team to beat Letran, 68-62, in their second round encounter.

A win by San Beda in Game Two tomorrow will give the Red Lions their second three-peat in this decade. The last time they did it was in 2005-2007, at the height of their vaunted trio of Sam Ekwe, Ogie Menor and Yousef Aljamal.

Davao-native Amer had a splendid game with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Alas paced Letran with 18 points while Kevin Racal added 14 before fouling out late in the game.

BOX SCORE

San Beda (62) – Amer 20, Koga 9, Adeogun 8, J. Pascual 8, Dela Cruz 6, Dela Rosa 4, Caram 3, K. Pascual 2, Mendoza 2, Lim 0.

Letran (60) – K. Alas 18, Racal 14, Cruz 11, Almazan 8, Belorio 7, Cortes 2, Lituania 0, J. Alas 0, Gabawan 0, Luib 0.

Quarterscores: 18-12, 24-25, 47-41, 62-60.