As College of Saint Benilde and Colegio de San Juan de Letran wrapped up the first round of the NCAA Season 99 Seniors Basketball Tournament with a 68-55 victory in favor of the Blazers, both squads found themselves far from where they had imagined they would be in the overall NCAA landscape.
Just a season ago, the Blazers and the Knights clashed on the mountaintop, overcoming all eight other NCAA schools for a chance to be called champions; the kings of the NCAA, as Letran secured its third consecutive title.
As the first round of Season 99 concluded, both the Blazers and the Knights were no longer looking down on the rest of the competition from the mountain’s peak but instead found themselves staring up from its base.
After weeks of mixed results, the Blazers’ victory over Letran brought them to a 5-4 record, placing them outside the top four at just sixth in the standings. They had lost only four games in the elimination rounds of season 98, and now they had already matched that loss mark with a full round of games remaining.
On the Knights’ end, their season had gone completely off the rails, even more so than their Season 98 finals counterparts. Letran dropped to a 1-8 record after the tough loss to Benilde, and their hopes of making it back to the final four grew grimmer.
Following the rematch against the Knights, Benilde’s head coach Charles Tiu empathized with his counterpart Rensy Bajar, who had taken over as the head coach of Letran after losing many key members of the championship squad.
“I feel for Letran; they’re struggling right now. Coach Rensy is doing a good job despite their struggles, but they can’t catch a break. They’re kind of like us in that their losses are all close games where they could’ve gone either way,” shared Tiu.
With very little time to get themselves back in the Final Four picture, Tiu focused not on their shared struggles but looked ahead towards Benilde’s own goals.
“We had to take care of our business, just focus on what we’re supposed to do. Worry about ourselves and not worry about the other team. It’s hard hoping these teams ahead of us lose. I think the best way to do it is to start winning games. We played well, and I think this was our most focused game,” Tiu explained.
Benilde will need to keep all eyes on the prize when it opens up the second round as it is set to battle the current number one team, Mapua University, who are currently on a six-game winning streak on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at the Filoil Ecooil Centre.
The Knights will have to fight for their tournament lives throughout the second round as they are set to battle the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, also on Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m. at the Filoil Ecooil Centre.
