1 week Ago
Defending champion Colegeio de San Juan de Letran and top-seeded University of Perpetual Help System DALTA will shoot to set another championship showdown as they take on separate foes in the NCAA Season 100 juniors basketball Final Four on Monday. The three-peat seeking Squires will square off with third seed De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde - La Salle Green Hills at 2:30 p.m.
while kicking things off are the 12 p.m. encounter between powerhouse Junior Altas and fourth-ranked San Beda University.
Both games are to be held at the FilOil EcoOil Centre. Perpetual is among the favorites heading to the semifinals as the Las Piñas crew nearly swept the elimination round with an impressive 8-1 win-loss card with the likes of Lebron Jhames Daep, Jan Roluna, and JD Pagulayan leading the show. Incidentally, their fate is in the hands of the very same team that handed them their only loss so far -- the Red Cubs.
During their first meeting, San Beda nearly squandered a 19-point lead but held on to pull off an 83-80 shocker over the stacked Perpetual. MJ Vailoces took the scoring cudgels back then, dropping 24 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Ever since that defeat, the Junior ALTAs went on winning their next five games to clinch yet another top seed.
Still, Perpetual head coach Joph Cleopas is fully aware that what they need to overcome are themselves, especially against the Red Cubs who are out to repeat the win and force a Game 2. "Palagi kong sinasabi na we need to beat ourselves, hindi tayo pwedeng mag-focus lang sa isang team kasi what we need to do is to overcome ourselves not just on the court, but off the court as well," Cleopas said. "Malakas ‘yung San Beda, sobrang lakas niyan.
Tinalo din nila kami. We need to prepare a lot, double time.' Perpetual has been riding the brilliance of Daep, who's been averaging 15.
44 points, 8.33 rebounds, 1.33 assists, 1.
78 steals, and 1.0 block to emerge as one of the MVP contenders. Aside from the 6-foot-7 big man, Perpetual has also been getting solid contributions from the likes of other veterans Roluna and Pagulayan as well as Icee Callangan, Jericho Cristino, and Rian Baldoria.
But Cleopas stressed it has to be a collective effort if they want to book an outright finals spot and finish what they couldn't a year ago. "I don’t want sa team na ‘siya ‘yung star’, I want na even lang. Walang superstar or go-to guy sa amin, it’s a collective effort.
Give lang what you can give to the team," he said. In the second game, Letran is also out to return to the finals and complete a rare three-peat. The Squires had a rocky run in the elimination round, losing back-to-back games against Mapua University and Jose Rizal University before ending the elimination round with another loss, this time against Perpetual.
But even then, Letran is still looking like a title contender with Daniel Padilla, Jhuniel Dela Rama, Syrex Silorio, and Justin Cargo doing the job for first-year head coach Willie Miller. They, however, will be needing more of that when they take on an undermanned LSGH. The Greenies will be without its top scorer Guillian Quines and head coach Renren Ritualo, who will be both serving a one-game suspension following their ejection late in the game against Emilio Aguinaldo College last Monday.
With Quines out, LGH will rely on Gian Gomez, Dale Ortega, Ram Sharma, and James Ison as the Greenies hope to extend the series and drag the defending champions to a do-or-die match. —JKC, GMA Integrated News.
