Red Lions Survived Hard-Fighting Maroons to Book PCCL Finals Seat

During the first two quarters of the Final Four game between the San Beda Red Lions and the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, it looked like there would be a Battle of Katipunan for the championship game of the Philippine Collegiate Champions' League (PCCL) today. After all, Ricci Rivero scored 16 points in the first half alone. And Dave Murrel drained two clutch free throws to bring UP within two points with 31 seconds to go.

Calvin Oftana, the reigning Most Valuable Player in the recent National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) season drained a lay-up with nine seconds but after a UP timeout, Ricci Rivero drained another trey to bring his team with a point. The Fighting Maroons had a chance force an overtime period after Oftana just made one of his two final attempts from the free-throw line but CJ Catapusan couldn't hit his floater at the buzzer and that was it.  The Red Lions escaped with a 65-63 victory thus fulfilling the prediction of many of a finals slugfest between the Red Lions and the Ateneo Blue Eagles. 

While Ricci Rivero finished with a game-leading 27 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, four steals, and four turnovers, he and Dave Murrell, who scored 15 points, were the only bright spots for State U as no other player from Coach Bo Perasol's line-up who scored in double figures. And, it also didn't help UP's cause that Murrell missed six of his nine attempts from the free-throw line which could have made the difference considering how close the final score was. The Fighting Maroons, who played without Bright Akhuetie and Kobe Paras, just shot 10 for 18 from the free-throw line. 

On the other side, five players from the line-up of Coach Boyet Fernandez scored at least nine points led by none other than Oftana who finished with 16 points. Ralph Penuela added 11 points and seven rebounds while Pedro Alfaro and Kenmark Carino each had nine points off the bench. James Kwekuteye shook a scoreless first half and finished with nine points and eight rebounds.  

While UP shot better from the field, it was the better shooting percentage of the Red Lions that propelled them to an escape win as San Beda went 18 for 23 from the free-throw line. San Beda also had 52 rebounds including 23 from the offensive end which resulted in 20 second-chance points for the Red Lions. San Beda's bench also performed well as their starters struggled to get their offense going. San Beda's bench troopers outscored their UP counterparts, 45-8.

As big as this win maybe for the Red Lions, the work is far from done as they will face an Ateneo side that whopped them in their encounter during the UAAP-NCAA Challenge last month. And, if you've seen how Ateneo demolished the University of Visayas Green Lancers in their Final Four game, it will be interesting to see how San Beda will try to ground the high-flying Blue Eagles of Ateneo. 

Photo is from the Facebook page of the PCCL