Red Lions Eye 6th Straight Finals Appearance, Battles JRU

Boosted by two straight victories over San Sebastian College, battle-tested San Beda takes on a well-rested Jose Rizal University at the start of the Final Four today in the 87th National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The Red Lions  finished number 1 after the two-round elimination hence enjoy the twice-to-beat advantage. This means SBC needs to win only once to move on to the finals for 6 straight years.

Interestingly, the Red Lions lost to JRU in the second round of the eliminations 65-76 last September 14, 2011.

“This is going to be a very interesting Final Four. Letran showed that it knows how to beat San Sebastian and JRU also knows how to beat us. But we’ll see,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim.

The Red Lions, one of the most successful college teams in the country the past few years, will clash with the Heavy Bombers at 2 p.m.

The San Beda coach, who steered the Red Lions to their fifth straight no. 1 spot after the eliminations since taking over as head coach in 2007, added that his wards are eager to take on the Heavy Bombers despite coming from intense and tiring battles against the Stags in the previous week.

“I don’t think they’re tired. If you’ve noticed, I was able to pace their minutes in our last two games and the most minutes I’ve given to a player is 22 minutes. I think this will actually work to our advantage since they will be still sharp going to the semifinals,” Lim added.

source: Daily Tribune