Favorites Mapua University and Lyceum of the Philippines University will look to capitalize on their twice-to-beat bonus when they take on De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and San Beda University, respectively, in the NCAA Season 99 semifinals on Tuesday.
Top seed Mapua will look to knock off last year's runner-up Benilde at 1:30 p.m. while Lyceum will eye payback against San Beda in their 3:30 p.m clash at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
This year's Final Four sees all of the teams in unfamiliar territory.
Mapua returned to the finals stage for the first time in 27 years when the Cardinals outlasted the Red Lions in their Season 97 semifinals clash early last year. However, they disappointed in Season 98, missing out on the playoffs with a 7-11 record in the elimination round.
Expectations weren't that high from them this season, even with the anticipated homecoming of prized guard Clint Escamis. But the Cardinals exceeded all of those expectations, with Mapua going 15-3 and clinching the top spot in the standings.
Escamis, too, was as good as advertised, leading the entire league in scoring (16.28 points per game) and steals (3.78 per game) and finishing #4 in assists with 4.22 per game to emerge as an MVP contender.
The wards of head coach Randy Alcantara, who have seen success in the juniors program, will hope to finish this time what they could not in Season 97 — win the NCAA men's basketball title.
But standing in their way are the Benilde Blazers, a talented team that went through some ups and down before they eventually landed on the fourth seed after the elims.
Benilde was the #1 team in the NCAA Season 98 eliminations last year and is fresh off its first Finals appearance in 20 years.
But the Blazers are reeling from an inconsistent campaign where they went 11-7, capping the second round with a crushing loss to Emilio Aguinaldo College that put their Final Four fate in the hands of the other contenders. The loss had their own coach, Charles Tiu questioning his team's character.
Still, there is no underestimating a team with finals experience and plenty of firepower, including leading scorer Miguel Oczon (13.17 points per game, #9 in the NCAA) and Season 98 MVP Will Gozum (12.76 ppg, 6.41 rpg, 1.18 bpg).
The teams split their two games this season with Paolo Hernandez knocking down big shots for the Cardinals in a 75-71 victory in Round 1 and Miggy Corteza leading the undermanned Blazers to a gutsy 65-61 win in Round 2, ending a six-game streak for Mapua.
In the other pairing, Lyceum and San Beda will hope to make some history when they lock horns anew.
Armed with the twice-to-beat incentive by virtue of finishing second with a 13-5 slate, the Pirates are tipped to come out motivated right off the bat as they look to avenge their stinging second round defeat to the Red Lions.
LPU will be leaning on Enoch Valdez, who is averaging 14.41 points per game (#4 in the NCAA), 7.82 rebounds per game (#6 in the NCAA), and 1.76 steals (#3 in the league), as well as some backup in Shawn Umali and JM Bravo.
The Pirates started off as one of the hottest teams in the league, getting off to a 6-0 start to Season 99, including a 67-62 win over the Red Lions back in October.
But LPU endured a stunning 74-56 loss in their rematch just last week with San Beda third-year Yukien Andrada emerging with a career-high 26 points to lead his Red Lions to the win.
And while Lyceum will be eyeing to finish off San Beda, the Mendiola crew will be hoping for a repeat to extend their life in the season.
San Beda is actually the squad on a tear right now, winning their last four games to catapult themselves back into the third spot after momentarily slipping to fifth place after back-to-back losses.
Scoring guard Jacob Cortez, who is averaging 15.39 points per game (2nd in the NCAA), is expected to play a key role for the Red Lions, alongside Andrada.
The two squads have some history in the NCAA championship round, playing each other in back-to-back NCAA Finals in Season 93 and Season 94 back in 2017 and 2018.
LPU is trying to get back into the Finals for the first time since then while San Beda is looking to make up for missing the championship round the last two years, following a stretch of 14 consecutive appearances prior to that.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
