No time to panic

Even though we lost, I think the scores were in our favor, below 70 points.

BOYET Fernandez is still optimistic about their chances against Letran. DAVID JOHN CUBANGBANG @tribunephl_dvd

San Beda University head coach Boyet Fernandez said their heartbreaking Game 1 loss to Letran College was a result of long layoff and poor shooting.

But he’s not offering excuses as he thought the Knights deserved the victory and took a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three championship series of Season 95 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) seniors basketball.

Fernandez remained optimistic about the chances of the Red Lions to come back in Game 2 on Friday as they have already moved on from a 64-65 defeat last Wednesday that snapped their 32-game winning streak dating back last season.

“Even though we lost, I think the scores were in our favor, below 70 points. But the problem is we really missed our shots in the three-point area,” said Fernandez as his wards shot a miserable 15 percent shooting from beyond the arc (6-of-40).

“Come to the finals, our three-point shooting left us today,” he added.

Prior the finals, San Beda is the top shooting team in the league with an impressive 48 percent clip and hitting 33 percent from the three-point zone.

But the Red Lions went misfiring in Game 1, converting just 26 of their 86 attempts overall, thanks to the solid perimeter defense offered by Letran to steal the victory.

On the other hand, Letran was more efficient from the perimeter, hitting 25-of-60 and was 6-of-21 from the rainbow territory.

There’s no doubt the Knights came out sharper in the series opener as they came from a pair of gut-wrenching wins in the step-ladder semis, an 85-80 decision over San Sebastian College and a 92-88 win over Lyceum University of the Philippines to face San Beda, which had a 27-day break for sweeping the elimination round.

But Fernandez said having a very young squad and the euphoria of being in the finals unblemished might have caught his team into pressure. And the long layoff period for Red Lions could have also been a double-edged sword as they face a battle-ready Letran.

“There is an advantage and disadvantage of not playing for a long time, but I could not blame my players on that. We made ourselves an 18-0 to gest straight into the finals, and its disadvantage was that the long layoff. So, it is really tough to prepare,” the veteran coach said.

And if they can repeat their defensive performance against the Knights, who just scored 65, 19 below the team average, Fernandez said they have a strong chance of sending the series into a winner-take-all Game 3.

“If we can still do that on Friday and make our shots, then we have a chance. Letran just beat us once, and they still need to beat us another time in order to take the championship,” he said.

“We really have to win the next game. My players are capable of coming back and will make those shots on Friday.”

Game 2 is set on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena with Letran trying to end the domination of the perennial powerhouse San Beda.