De la Cruz, Amer eye Lions’ triumph

BASER Amer is hoping for a San Beda win.

Art de la Cruz of Ginebra and Baser Amer of Meralco are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that San Beda University will come up with a torrid run to win the crown of Season 95 National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

De la Cruz said he hopes that the momentum that the Red Lions gained in Game 2 will spill over in Game 3 of their best-of-three title series against Letran College on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

He and Amer have an ax to grind against the Knights.

In fact, they were part of the San Beda squad that had been successful in the past couple of years. But Letran halted their run in an emotional finals battle in Game 3 in which the likes of future Philippine Basketball Association cagers like Rey Nambatac and Kevin Racal dominated them.

“I hope they could bring the confidence they had from Game 2 to Game 3,” said De la Cruz, who was chosen to be part of Gilas Pilipinas in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

“I’ve been there. Game 3 is hard. The game plan was already out. It’s now up to the players to execute and win the game to clinch the title.”

Amer, meanwhile, stressed that for San Beda to emerge victorious, it has to realize everything it went through all season, including the tough sweep of the 18-game double-round eliminations.

“They need to forget Games 1 and 2. Game 3 is different,” Amer said.

“All their sacrifices of waking up early to go to practice, sleeping late to study and the difficulty of training must be used as motivation. The alumni community is behind them, the students and professors are supporting them. I believe they have a big shot of winning a four-peat.”

De la Cruz added that the friendship and camaraderie forged by this new breed of Red Lions would be the main factor in its victory.