MANILA – College of St. Benilde Blazers and Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights arranged a finals showdown in NCAA Season 98 men’s seniors basketball after kicking out their semifinals foes on Tuesday at the FilOil EcoOil Arena in San Juan.
The Blazers made its way to the championship round for the first time in two decades following a 62-61 escape over many-time NCAA champions San Beda University Red Lions.
Miguel Oczon carried the fight for the Blazers with 17 points, including 8-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, James Pasturan added 16 markers, while Will Gozum had double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Oczon, a transferee from National University Bulldogs, played the heroes role in the endgame when he foiled an inside attempt by Red Lions forward John Bahio with over a minute left and preserve a slim 60-56 lead.
San Beda still managed to cut the deficit to 60-59 after a three-pointer by James Kwenkuteye but two free throws by Oczon gave CSB much enough separation at 62-59 with under a minute left.
“I’m just so thankful right now. We had some luck down the stretch but I guess that’s basketball,” said Blazers head coach Charles Tiu. “That was a tough, tough game and San Beda prepared so well.”
Jacob Cortez top-scored with 13 points, while Kwenkuteye added 11 markers in his potential final game for the Red Lions, which were booted out of the NCAA finals for the second straight season.
Two-time defending champions Knights, on the other hand, overcame a slow start to score a 67-58 victory over the third-seed Lyceum of the Philippines Pirates in the other semis match.
Graduating guard Fran Yu led the way with 11 points while King Caralipio posted 10 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, while Louie Sangalang and Brent Paraiso had nine points each for the Knights.
The Blazers and Knights will kick off their best-of-three championship series on December 4 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Letran has CSB’s numbers this season after beating them twice in the elimination round.
BOX SCORE:
CSB 62 — Oczon 17, Pasturan 16, Gozum 10, Nayve 8, Corteza 7, Sangco 4, Cullar 0, Carlos 0, Marcos 0, Lepalam 0, Lim 0.
SAN BEDA 61 — Cortez 13, Kwekuteye 11, Bahio 9, Sanchez 8, Ynot 6, Cuntapay 4, Andrada 3, Cometa 3, Alfaro 2, Visser 2, Payosing 0.
Quarterscores: 19-14, 34-31, 54-48, 62-61./PN
