NCAA Season 98 Finals set

c/o NCAA

The finals of the 98th season of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is set to commence on Sunday afternoon at the SMART- Araneta Coliseum, with the top two seeds at the end of eliminations set to tangle.

Although the Knights have topped the Blazers in both of their meetings in the eliminations, head coach Bonnie Tan knows that things are different in the bigger stage.

He shared to the media, "Pagtatrabahuhan namin kasi number one team ang Benilde so mindset pa rin namin is nasa dehado side tayo. Excited din kaming makalaban ang CSB sa Finals dahil first time din nila after long years na absent sila sa Finals. Sana mabigyan natin ng magandang laban yung CSB."

The Knights are hoping to become the eighth team to successfully pull off three straight titles, and the first Letran team to do so since 1982-84, when a team led by Samboy Lim earned the feat.

After an undefeated shortened season earlier this year, Letran rode on the leadership of Brent Paraiso, Louie Sangalang, and Fran Yu, overcoming a sluggish 3-3 start to win ten of their last twelve matches in the eliminations, before topping Lyceum in the Final Four.

As for CSB, they bounced back from falling short in the play-in tournament earlier this season by setting a school record with fourteen wins, then overcame San Beda in the Final Four, making their return to the finals after a two-decade absence.

Reflecting on their semifinal matchup, Charles Tiu says, "This was a good test for us, if we can stand our ground, I think maybe we'd have a chance (against the Knights)."

Will Gozum and Miguel Oczon has been taking charge for the Blazers.

The game will be shown on the league's Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as that of GMA Sports. It will be televised on both GMA and GTV.

Game 2 will be next Sunday, also at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum. A potential deciding Game 3 will be played at the Ynares Center in Antipolo if necessary on December 18.