San Sebastian nips Letran in NCAA jrs finals opener

MANILA, Philippines – San Sebastian puts itself in a good position of winning its fourth straight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Junior’s crown after an 83-81 Game 1 win over the Letran Squires on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum. Not even a change of ruling could derail the Staglets’ bid of winning their 13th straight game. They can wrap up the best-of-three championship series with another win on Friday. The NCAA Management Committee, at the last minute, awarded an outright finals berth to the team that will sweep the elimination round instead of the usual twice-to-beat edge in the championship round. San Sebastian completed a 12-game sweep of the elimination round to earn an automatic finals berth. Almond Vosotros paced the Staglets with a team-high 22 points while Jamil Ortuoste and Raffy Gusi added 16 and 15 markers each. Arvin Bringas finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds also for San Sebastian. – Andrew Lanot