Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda rode on a strong first half to beat Wangs Basketball@27 Striker-Letran, 79-65, in the deciding Game 3 of their semifinal duel and advance to the Finals of the 2023 Philippine Basketball Association D-League Aspirants' Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

The Red Lions were simply awesome as they outshot, outworked and outhustled the Knights in a game that surprisingly appeared so easy to wrap up the series and book a best-of-three title showdown with EcoOil-La Salle.

The Green Archers booked a ticket to the finals after sweeping University of Perpetual Help System Dalta in their semifinal encounter.

"The players didn't relax. I told them not to stop playing for 48 minutes. They took it seriously unlike in Game 1 when we suddenly stopped playing," San Beda coach Yuri Escueta said.

"Credits go to our players. It's their effort. I told them that even if we come up with a huge lead, it will depend on how we will sustain it. We just focused on our defense and played smart on offense the whole game."

'The players didn't relax. I told them not to stop playing for 48 minutes.'

San Beda was all business from the get go and was visibly in complete control from the time it took a huge 46-39 advantage at the end of the first half.

The Knights, who took Game 1 in overtime, never got the chance to take the lead and were disappointing on both ends.

Letran shot 10 of 29 in the first while committing 12 turnovers that translated into 20 big points for San Beda.

James Payosing topscored for San Beda with 23 points, including a three-pointer that gave the Red Lions a commanding 53-36 advantage midway in the third.

Damie Cuntapay chipped in 11 points and Yukien Andrada added 10 for San Beda, which shot 45 percent from the field as compared to Letran's 34 percent.

The Red Lions also outrebounded the Knights, 47-36.