DESPITE being practically gifted with a Game 1 win in the NCAA basketball best-of-three Finals, San Beda still deserves our applause for its “three-peat” feat recently.
Its title-clinching 71-56 win over Lyceum in Game 2 to sweep the series was something not to sneeze at.
CJ Perez, the most feared Pirate, was around when the Red Lions devoured coach Topex Robinson’s charges.
Said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez after Game 2: “In this game, the mantra was, ‘Let’s prove to ourselves that we can beat Lyceum with CJ there.’”
With Perez, averaging 18.9 points a game, serving a one-game suspension, Lyceum lost Game 1 by 15 points.
As I said, officials punishing Perez was uncalled for. The ultimate victim was Lyceum.
CJ’s failure to inform the league that he was joining the PBA Draft wasn’t that serious enough as to suspend him in Game 1.
A fine would have been all right.
Topex was also axed for criticizing CJ’s suspension. But officials did not suspend Topex in Game 2. “Later,” they said. Why they could be that lenient to Robinson but not to Perez boggles the mind.
Well, that’s all water under the bridge now, so to speak. Lyceum lost it on boardroom bad breaks and that’s it. Anyway, let’s go to UAAP basketball.
University of the Philippines did not only mightily grab third spot in the Final 4 of Season 81, but also carved it via a viciously stunning 97-81 spanking of La Salle on Wednesday.
A virtual underdog, the Fighting Maroons immediately jumped the gun on the Archers, erecting a 25-17 lead before starving the Tafters to just 12 second quarter points en route to an improbable 52-29 halftime bulge.
The Maroons just coasted along from there to pocket a much-coveted F4 third place stint through a better quotient should ties ensue after the FEU-Adamson game tomorrow, Sunday.
But for now, I simply drop that thought.
I just can’t stop savoring UP’s return to the Final 4 since its back-to-back F4 appearances in 1996 under coach Eric Altamirano and in 1997 under Nic Jorge. The wait had taken that long.
Pammy Macasaet, the diehard Maroon fan, is also still in Cloud 9, mind you.