Published November 27, 2023 10:43pm
Updated November 27, 2023 10:43pm
Favorites Mapua University and Lyceum of the Philippines University will look to capitalize on their twice-to-beat bonus once they tackle De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and San Beda University, respectively, within the NCAA Season 99 semifinals on Tuesday.
Top seed Mapua will look to knock off final 12 months’s runner-up Benilde at 1:30 p.m. whereas Lyceum will eye payback in opposition to San Beda of their 3:30 p.m conflict on the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
This 12 months’s Final Four sees the entire groups in unfamiliar territory.
Mapua returned to the finals stage for the primary time in 27 years when the Cardinals outlasted the Red Lions of their Season 97 semifinals conflict early final 12 months. However, they disillusioned in Season 98, lacking out on the playoffs with a 7-11 file within the elimination spherical.
Expectations weren’t that prime from them this season, even with the anticipated homecoming of prized guard Clint Escamis. But the Cardinals exceeded all of these expectations, with Mapua going 15-3 and clinching the highest spot within the standings.
Escamis, too, was pretty much as good as marketed, main the whole league in scoring (16.28 factors per sport) and steals (3.78 per sport) and ending #4 in assists with 4.22 per sport to emerge as an MVP contender.
The wards of head coach Randy Alcantara, who’ve seen success within the juniors program, will hope to complete this time what they might not in Season 97 — win the NCAA males’s basketball title.
But standing of their method are the Benilde Blazers, a proficient staff that went via some ups and down earlier than they finally landed on the fourth seed after the elims.
Benilde was the #1 staff within the NCAA Season 98 eliminations final 12 months and is recent off its first Finals look in 20 years.
But the Blazers are reeling from an inconsistent marketing campaign the place they went 11-7, capping the second spherical with a crushing loss to Emilio Aguinaldo College that put their Final Four destiny within the palms of the opposite contenders. The loss had their very own coach, Charles Tiu questioning his staff’s character.
Still, there isn’t any underestimating a staff with finals expertise and loads of firepower, together with main scorer Miguel Oczon (13.17 factors per sport, #9 within the NCAA) and Season 98 MVP Will Gozum (12.76 ppg, 6.41 rpg, 1.18 bpg).
The groups cut up their two video games this season with Paolo Hernandez pulling down massive photographs for the Cardinals in a 75-71 victory in Round 1 and Miggy Corteza main the undermanned Blazers to a gutsy 65-61 win in Round 2, ending a six-game streak for Mapua.
In the opposite pairing, Lyceum and San Beda will hope to make some historical past once they lock horns anew.
Armed with the twice-to-beat incentive by advantage of ending second with a 13-5 slate, the Pirates are tipped to come back out motivated proper off the bat as they appear to avenge their stinging second spherical defeat to the Red Lions.
LPU will likely be leaning on Enoch Valdez, who’s averaging 14.41 factors per sport (#4 within the NCAA), 7.82 rebounds per sport (#6 within the NCAA), and 1.76 steals (#3 within the league), in addition to some backup in Shawn Umali and JM Bravo.
The Pirates began off as one of many hottest groups within the league, getting off to a 6-0 begin to Season 99, together with a 67-62 win over the Red Lions again in October.
But LPU endured a shocking 74-56 loss of their rematch simply final week with San Beda third-year Yukien Andrada rising with a career-high 26 factors to guide his Red Lions to the win.
And whereas Lyceum will likely be eyeing to complete off San Beda, the Mendiola crew will likely be hoping for a repeat to increase their life within the season.
San Beda is definitely the squad on a tear proper now, successful their final 4 video games to catapult themselves again into the third spot after momentarily slipping to fifth place after back-to-back losses.
Scoring guard Jacob Cortez, who’s averaging 15.39 factors per sport (2nd within the NCAA), is predicted to play a key position for the Red Lions, alongside Andrada.
The two squads have some historical past within the NCAA championship spherical, taking part in one another in back-to-back NCAA Finals in Season 93 and Season 94 again in 2017 and 2018.
LPU is making an attempt to get again into the Finals for the primary time since then whereas San Beda is seeking to make up for lacking the championship around the final two years, following a stretch of 14 consecutive appearances previous to that.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
