San Beda's PCCL Run: It Wasn't All Bad

At one point, it looked like the San Beda Red Lions were going to win the Philippine Collegiate Champions' League (PCCL) championship against the reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) champions, the Ateneo Blue Eagles as the Red Lions even led as much as six points and managed to outscore Ateneo, 16-5 in the third quarter of last Sunday's championship slugfest. In the end, Ateneo's firepower was simply too much for the Red Lions as the Blue Eagles went on to outscore San Beda, 18-5 in the final quarter, en route to a 57-46 win and Ateneo's second straight PCCL title. But, if you look at the bigger picture, it wasn't all bad for the runner-up in Season 95 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association who couldn't just get over the hump against the eventual champions Letran Knights despite San Beda sweeping the double-round elimination. 

To begin with, the Red Lions opened their PCCL run with a disappointing outing against Ateneo in their match-up for the UAAP-NCAA Challenge last January. After beating the Knights in their second game of the UAAP-NCAA Challenge, the Red Lions had to fend off a University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers team just to book a seat in the PCCL Final Four. 

In the Final Four, San Beda was pitted against a Ricci Rivero-led University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons who gave the Red Lions a good fight until the very end as Ricci Rivero torched San Beda with 27 points in that encounter. In the end, San Beda's defense stood its ground as they were able to survive Rivero's hot start. 

While San Beda was clearly at the disadvantageous position against the Blue  Eagles in the championship game as the Red Lions had no answer for Angelo Kouame who had 17 points and 17 rebounds in 27 minutes last Sunday, the fact that Ateneo finished with 57 points says something about the Red Lions' ability to compete even without the presence of a foreign student-athlete. And by the way, Ateneo's 11-point margin was their fewest winning margin they had in the 2020 PCCL season.

Calvin Oftana, the reigning Most Valuable Player in the NCAA, along with Ralph Penuela were named into the Mythical Team alongside Kouame, SJ Belangel, and Lassina Coulibaly. 

The Red Lions may have failed on their mission to take home the PCCL national championship but if there's one thing that we should take note in their recent run in the PCCL, they are a competitive team. And with the amount of young talented rookies coming their way for Season 96, the Red Lions should be ready to take back the crown. 

Photo is from the Facebook page of the PCCL