By REYNALD MAGALLON
(UPDATED) College of St. Benilde head coach Charles Tiu wasn’t exactly surprised when the embattled Jose Rizal University pulled off an 87-71 win over defending champion Letran in the final game of the eliminations of the NCAA Season 98 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
In a reply to a twitter post, the outspoken Blazers coach said he actually expected the results of the clash.
“Wasn’t really a stunner. Saw it coming from a mile. Lol,” Tiu tweeted.
The mentor didn’t elaborate the meaning behind his post but not a few fans pointed out that the Knights could be picking their opponents in the Final Four, hence, the lethargic performance from the crew.
A win for Letran could have catapulted the defending champions to the top seed where it would face bitter rival San Beda while holding on to a twice-to-beat advantage. But because of the loss to the Heavy Bombers, the Knights slid down to the second seed where it is set to take on third placed LPU.
Based on their elimination round meetings, it looked like the Knights had better odds against the Pirates who they split their head-to-head matchup with, losing in the first round 82-75 before tying the count in the second round with a 69-64 win.
On the other hand, San Beda seemed to have Letran’s number this season, sweeping their regular season matches with 76-68 victory in the first round and 91-77 in the second.
Interestingly, Letran’s loss allowed Tiu’s CSB to claim the top seed and be pitted against San Beda – a somehow shot at redemption of sorts as it was the Red Lions who foiled the Final Four bid of the Blazers in the play-in tournament last season before eventually bowing out against the Perpetual Altas.
Through the eliminations, the Blazers got the better of the Red Lions in their two meetings, first scoring a 78-69 victory in the first round before coming away with an 82-73 triumph that allowed CSB to secure the twice-to-beat incentive.
NCAA Season 98 Final Four begins Tuesday, Nov. 29.