SSC battles UC in 'practice' game

MANILA, Philippines - With the top slot and the twice-to-beat advantage already secured, San Sebastian is still expected to go all out against winless University of Cebu today for the needed momentum heading to the Philippine Collegiate Champions League finale at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Stags downed two collegiate champions, the NCAA’s San Beda Lions, 87-72, in a fight-marred game last Monday, and then rallied from behind to shock the UAAP’s Ateneo Eagles, 70-69, last Tuesday.

The twin wins assured SSC of the coveted slot regardless of the result of its 4 p.m. showdown with UC.

“We want to ride that winning momentum coming into the finals so a win will be great for us,” said SSC coach Topex Robinson.

The Webmasters, for their part, are already out of the race with a 53-100 blowout loss to the Eagles and a 77-83 defeat to the Lions.

But UC is also tipped to come out strong to salvage some measure of pride with 6-10 Junmar Fajardo expected to lead the Visayan champion team’s charge.

Against San Beda, Fajardo scored 24 points and hauled down 14 rebounds but failed to draw solid support from the rest of the Webmasters.

Ateneo and San Beda, meanwhile, close out the single round robin semis tomorrow in a virtual showdown for the other finals berth.

“We’re a team without some of our key players but we’re still in it and we’ll give it our best to get it,” said Lim.