| San Beda Red Cubs, Letran Squires battle for juniors NCAA crown NCAA Press Release, Thu, Oct 29, 2009 Game Thursday (The Arena, San Juan City) 2 p.m.- San Beda vs Letran (jrs) San Beda hopes to send its legendary coach a parting gift as it aims for the title even as Letran seeks to spoil it as the two collide today in a knockout match in the juniors’ finals of the 85th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City. Unleashing a vicious running game, the Red Cubs seized Game One, 98-75, last week before the Squires drew strength from the entertaining pair of Jarelan Tampus and Glenn Khobuntin to eke out an 83-80 victory in Game Two to knot their series at one game apiece and forge a do-or-die duel set at 2 p.m. San Beda is gunning for its 17th title or one closer to Mapua’s league-best 18 crowns while Letran is looking for its 11th championship, currently third in the league in titles won. The Cubs are bent on hammering out a triumph as a tribute to long-time mentor Ato Badolato, who is retiring after the season after steering the Mendiola-based school to 15 of 16 titles during his 37-year watch at probably the best high school team in the country today. “This would be my last season because I want to concentrate on my job as San Beda athletic director and relax a bit,” said Badolato. “But I will still be around to give the team advice and help in other ways, I’ll just be in the background.” Tampus waxed with 28 points he laced with 14 rebounds, five assists, a steal and a black while Khobuntin bucked the nagging effects of an ankle sprain he sustained two weeks ago and churned out 22 points and 15 boards in the Squires’ series tying win Saturday. Archie Inigo is also expected to attract some of the attention after he nailed the biggest shot of the game—a booming triple with 5.8 seconds to go that shattered an 80-all deadlock and gave Letran the win. Baser Amer exploded with a series-high 39 points he spiked with five caroms, five assists and two steals but turned the ball a series-high 12 times that somehow hastened San Beda’s downfall. |
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