Mapua Cardinals within the NCAA Finals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.internet
One victory away from regaining the NCAA males’s basketball title they’ve chased for greater than three a long time, the Mapua Cardinals know the kind of killer intuition they should end off the San Beda Lions.
“That is my last yr, so we must be hungry to win. A part of our motivation is to finish the 32 years that Mapua performed with out profitable a title,’’ skipper Warren Bonifacio stated after a 68-63 trimming of the Lions on Wednesday. “Since there’s another sport (left to be gained), we’re not glad but.’’
The Cardinals ruffled the Lions’ offense proper from the get-go by protecting the perimeter with ruthlessness that pressured San Beda to a five-for-35 clip from the three-point space, successfully taking the Lions’ essential weapon out of the equation for first blood within the best-of-three sequence at Mall of Asia Area.
Starring Jacob Cortez and a squadron of correct marksmen, the Pink Lions dealt the Lyceum Pirates the killer blow from that space within the semifinals.
However they had been unable to wield that very same effectivity towards the Cardinals’ protection, and Bonifacio didn’t make it a secret in a while that shutting them down from afar was the principle defensive objective of Mapua.
Offensive weapons
“We all know that San Beda is lethal with its threes, so we practiced onerous on how we are able to shut out on their shooters whereas defending the paint and the outcome was good,’’ stated Bonifacio.
Guards Clint Escamis and Paolo Hernandez, in the meantime, generated the offense Mapua wanted.
Escamis, the projected rookie-MVP, fired 18 factors, his free throws within the dying seconds securing the win for the Cardinals, whose final title got here through the 1991 season.
Hernandez, whose backcourt partnership half a decade in the past with Escamis produced a juniors’ championship win for the Pink Robins, tossed in 16 and helped revitalize the workforce’s offense within the face of San Beda’s searing comeback.
“Our work isn’t finished but, the strain is mounting, however these powerful conditions aren’t new to us. We’ve been right here earlier than,’’ added Bonifacio, who was a part of the Mapua workforce that misplaced the title to the Letran Knights two seasons in the past.
Because the Mapua trustworthy cheered wildly, former Barangay Ginebra stalwart Benny Cheng was praying on the stands in a poignant sight. Additionally current to assist the Cardinals was PBA legend and former Mapua coach Atoy Co.
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Cheng was coach Randy Alcantara’s teammate on the final Mapua workforce that dominated the league in 1991, curiously sufficient, additionally towards the Lions.