San Beda University may be favored for being the reigning champion in the National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

But Red Lions head coach Yuri Escueta believes that they are the underdogs in their Final Four match against College of Saint Benilde.

Escueta, one of the country’s brightest young mentors, said that advancing to the best-of-three finals will not be easy as they have to prevail against a disciplined Blazers squad that is being led by another young coach in Charles Tiu with a seasoned international tactician Rajko Toroman as consultant.

San Beda capped its elimination round campaign with a 70-79 loss to San Sebastian College over the weekend for a 10-8 win-loss card that gave them the third seed, putting them in a collision course with Saint Benilde, which finished the eliminations with a 14-4 slate.

The Lions, however, have to win over the Blazers twice if they want to advance to the finals against the survivor in the other Final Four pairing featuring Intramuros neighbors Mapua University and Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Escueta said if beating a powerhouse squad like the Blazers once is already tough, beating them twice is next to impossible.

“We haven’t beat them in the eliminations. We had two close games against them,” said Escueta, who is set to challenge the Blazers in the Final Four next Saturday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

“We just want to win one game first.”

True enough, Saint Benilde is a tough nut to crack.

In their first meeting on 10 September, the Blazers pulled off a 70-65 overtime win over the Red Lions. Then, just last Wednesday, the Blazers completed their sweep of the Lions with a masterful 70-62 triumph.

Interestingly, most of the Blazers’ top performers were former Red Lions stars Justine Sanchez, Tony Ynot and Gab Cometa, adding an extra level of excitement to this brewing rivalry between a school with a rich championship tradition and a rising league powerhouse.

Sanchez has been averaging a second-best 10.44 points per game while Ynot and Cometa have been averaging 10.14 and 8.5 markers, respectively.

Escueta, an assistant coach at TNT Tropang Giga in the Philippine Basketball Association, said to prepare for the semifinals, they opted to rest Nygel Gonzales and Bismarck Lina to keep them fresh against the giants of Saint Benilde.

“We’re blessed to be in the Final four but we have to prepare well and focus on just one game first,” said Escueta, who is hoping to extend the series to a winner-take-all on 27 November at the same Pasay venue.

“We rested him (Lina) since he came back from an injury and we don’t want to risk it. Nygel has Charley Horse on his knee.”