Ateneo-San Beda in the PCCL Finals: A One-Team Demolition or A Hard-Fought Battle

While this potential Finals match-up has been the talk of most basketball-minded folks since the start of the Philippine Collegiate Champions' League (PCCL) tournament, one of them almost didn't make it to the Final Four. And yet, here we are: about to witness another classic slugfest between two powerhouse teams from the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as the Ateneo Blue Eagles will try to wrap their second straight PCCL championship while the San Beda Red Lions will try to win the PCCL championship that they last won in 2015 when they were named co-champions along with the Far Eastern University Tamaraws.

On one side, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, despite losing key players from last season's three-peating team, have been dominating since the UAAP-NCAA Challenge and if you've seen them demolish the University of Visayas Green Lancers in yesterday's Final Four game, San Beda is definitely headed for another long game against Tab Baldwin's wards. However, one cannot take away anything from the Red Lions who endured difficult situations just to get to the championship game.

Red Lions were faced with a must-win situation against the Growling Tigers of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) back in the UAAP-NCAA Challenge and yet,  it was San Beda who won that game which enabled them to book a seat in the Final Four. Then, the Red Lions had to survive the onslaught of one Ricci Rivero in their Final Four encounter against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons. In the end, Rivero's 27-point outing went down the drain as it was San Beda who to the right to face the Blue Eagles today. 

As impressive as San Beda's path to the championship game is, let's remember one thing: Ateneo torched the Red Lions during the UAAP-NCAA Challenge and it wasn't even a close one as Ateneo won, 83-69.  That game saw SJ Belangel exploding for 26 points and yes, that was when Dwight Ramos, one of Ateneo's prized recruits, made his much-awaited debut and he didn't disappoint either. Dwight Ramos finished with 12 points. And if you have forgotten, Angelo Kouame wasn't even in his dominant self offensively as he only had eight points in the San Beda game. In the game against the Green Lancers yesterday, Belangel had 20 points while Dwight Ramos added 11 points. Don't forget about Tyler Tio's 16 points and Will Navarro's 11 points.

Offensively, Ateneo's massive firepower might look impossible for San Beda to even match-up against but, the Red Lions actually against a UST side that had a Soulemane Chabi-Yo. The Red Lions also won against the UP team that had a Ricci Rivero almost torching San Beda until the end. Then again, one of the reasons why Ateneo has been winning most of their games since 2018 is the mere fact that they have a deep pool of players and yes, Tab Baldwin always gets the best from his players. 

In other words, San Beda can definitely bring the fight to the Blue Eagles but can they get over the hump and beat the reigning UAAP champions? That's a different story. 

Photo is from Inquirer Sports