Red Lions cautious

BOYET Fernandez and San Beda brace for war in NCAA finals. DAVID JOHN CUBANGBANG

San Beda University head coach Boyet Fernandez said this is not the time to relax.

Though his Red Lions are already through the finals of Season 95 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament, Fernandez pointed out that their job is far from done.

And like the three team figuring in the step-ladder round, San Beda is also anxious on the result of that stage as Fernandez admitted the three schools are capable of giving them a hard time in the best-of-three championship series.

“They are no pushovers,” Fernandez told Daily Tribune after the team’s practice at the San Beda gym.

For sweeping the 18-game elims, the Red Lions grabbed the first finals seat and await the survivor of the step-ladder semis where No. 4 San Sebastian College and No. 3 Letran College will be meeting in the knockout game and the winner collides with No. 2 Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) for another do-or-die duel.

Among the three schools, the Pirates have given the defending champions a harder time in the elims.

“LPU is also a heavy team. The Marcelino Twins (Jaycee and Jayvee) are playing well, so the team that will face Lyceum will definitely have a hard time,” Fernandez said.

“We had convincing wins against Lyceum twice but that’s because Reymar Caduyac was injured in the first round while in the second round (Mike) Nzeusseu did not play because he was injured,” he added.

San Beda scored an 88-73 win over the Pirates in the first round last 20 August and repeated it in their second meeting also in a dominant fashion, 75-63, last 1 October.

“We can’t really say we have that much of an advantage with other teams because we have yet to face the real deal. We should not be complacent that we will get the championship because the other teams are also a force to reckon with,” Fernandez said.

“We also had a hard time with San Sebastian. As of Letran, they almost defeated us.”

Right now, the Red Lions are keeping themselves in condition as they will see action on 12 November in Game 1 of the finals at the Mall of Asia Arena.

And Fernandez said they are bracing for a war in the finals as the survivor of the step-ladder semis will definitely has the edge in terms of conditioning.

“Playing in the finals is more physical and the pressure will be there. We did conditioning for ten days, and lifting weights for three days, then we do scrimmage and review our defensive schemes a little bit,” Fernandez said.

“As of now, we’re only practicing on a general basis. We also have a general game plan in terms of our defensive schemes and our offense. We’ll just make do of the details come 8 November.”