The San Sebastian Stags Shocks San Beda Red Lions to Win The 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Division Crown

Back on Number 1. Indeed, the winning tradition of the Stags is back on track. After 6 years of not fighting for the crown, here are the Stags, with a bunch of stepping-up rookie players and a rookie coach in Ato Agustin, renews their assertion in Men's Basketball of the NCAA.

Nobody saw this Finals matchup coming, not even I. This writer thought that it will be a JRU-SBC Finals again, as things looked pretty bleak for the Stags as they lost 3 games in a row in a span of just one week. It seems that they started faltering when the games mattered the most during that time, however, looking back, it was a blessing in disguise for the Stags, as they experienced those setbacks where in they would be able to assert themselves and fight back to their winning ways, and this time, they pulled off 3 straight games in one week to win the NCAA Final Four and the Crown.

Game 1 was a closely fought contest, especially in the 4th quarter. where the Stags started faltering again as the Red Lions chimp-in that 8 pt lead and held the Stags to only 13 points in the 2nd half to force overtime. They were not executing their plays and turning the ball over a lot of times.

It seems that the Stags are into doom again. With Bambam Gamalinda of the Red Lions hitting back to back three's as the Red Lions took the roll at the start of overtime. However, the Stags held their composure and fought back, to force a second overtime. This time around, they maintained their composure and with Rookie Sensation Calvin Abueva hitting clutch free throws and getting 23 crucial rebounds for a 72-68 victory and a 1-0 series lead.

Heading into game 2, Coach Frankie Lim took some adjustments and was able to establish a lead into the 1st half and holding the Stags to only 28 points in the first half as the Red Lions scored 38 for a 10 point lead, along with a mammoth Red Lion crowd behind them expecting for a game 3. More importantly for the Lions, they held Jimbo Aquino to a single point and made Abueva to commit 3 fouls and limit his production. However, Gilbert Bulawan kept the Stags alive, as he made timely contributions with the two main man of the Stags not getting into the groove of the game.

But, the Stags will have none of it, as they started to run and forced turnovers, as they scored 26 points in the 3rd quarter and trimmed the lead to two, 56-54. Jimbo Aquino started to explode, hitting big shots and three pointers, as Abueva was benched the whole quarter due to foul trouble and with Coach Ato Agustin wanting to save Abueva for last.

Come the final canto, the Stags held the Red Lions without a field goal pretty much the whole quarter, and the Stags slowly started to build up the lead, with Jimbo Aquino hitting a timely three-pointer to give the Stags an 8-point lead with 5 minutes left into the ballgame. Things started to falter for the Red Lions this time, as they got into unforced turnovers, and with time on the Stags' side, the Lions pretty much sealed the deal on themselves, as the Lions kept fouling the Stags trying to keep their hopes alive, but they could not convert any field goal at all and this blew the final score to 76-61.

This stopped the 3-year dominance of this year's hosts, the San Beda Red Lions as the San Sebastian Stags finally captured the Men's Basketball Crown again since 2002, which ironically, the San Beda was also the host of that season. The graduating scorer of the Stags, Jimbo Aquino was named Finals MVP of the series, with coach Ato Agustin and his young boys taking their first crown. The Stags will be looking to defend their crown in 2010, in which they will be that season's host and try to break the curse of the host winning the NCAA Men's Basketball Crown.

The NCAA Finals Matchup

It all boils down to the number 1 and number 2 team after all, and so my Final Four prediction is only half-correct, as the San Sebastian Stags upsets the Jose Rizal Heavy Bombers in a blowout in the second game, as the San Beda Red Lions gets a 6-day break preparing for the Finals.

San Beda College Red Lions vs San Sebastian College-Recoletos Stags

The Red Lions stayed pretty much in the number 2 slot the rest of the elimination round. However, after their loss against the JRU Heavy Bombers that put the Lions down at the number 3 slot, the Red Lions went on to win its last remaining games and forced a playoff against the number 1 team for most of the eliminations, the San Sebastian Stags, and won that game to seal the number 1 seeding.

Riding on a winning streak and with plenty of rest heading into the Finals, the Red Lions looks as prepared as ever on capturing their fourth straight NCAA crown for the decade, although things look rough in their Final Four encounter against the Letran Knights, San Beda has the edge when it comes to Finals experience as well.

On the other hand, the season started strong for the San Sebastian Stags, winning their first 15 games to set an NCAA record for the best start in the eliminations, before being booted out of first place in a playoff encounter against the Red Lions.

Leading scorer Jimbo Aquino losing his cool in the playoff game, things look pretty bleaked on the Stags as they faced-off last year's finalist, the JRU Heavy Bombers. The Stags fought hard and fended off JRU's challenge as they move into the Finals for the first time since 2003.

Lately, the Red Lions got into the Stags' number, beating them in back-to-back games at the end of the season, and more importantly, holding and frustrating the Stags' leading scorer, Jimbo Aquino. Coach Frankie Lim would like to continue that trend with Jake Pascual limiting Aquino's touch and space to frustrate him and with John Hermida and Garvo Lanete pestering opposing guards Pamboy Raymundo and Raymond Maconocido.

Also, the Red Lions would like to slow the tempo down and force turnovers to get easy points. With their experience in the Finals, the Lions could afford to make the series into a half-court game, as this limits the Stags' running game and the Lions would not want to fall into the fast-paced game of their opponent. The Lions also needs to get back on defense quickly to prevent the Stags' hi-octane offense.

For the Stags', their losses against the Red Lions would have not come at a better time, as the Stags would learn a lot from those two games that they lost. In fact, those losses could be a blessing in disguise for the Stags, as these losses gave them an idea and will surely make their work cut-out for them to prepare for the adjustments they needed against the Lions.

The guards of the Stags are the important factor in this series, with Pamboy Raymundo and Raymond Maconocido must break the opposing press and make the right decisions on setting their team's play. Also, Jimbo Aquino must not force things and let the game come to him. The Stags would not want to be too predictable in their offense by letting Aquino do all the work, as the Stags have enough fire power on their team to create a balanced attack.

Also, it is very important for the Stags' frontline to get defensive rebounds and force turnovers to fuel their fast-paced game. The Stags needs to create opportunities for their fast-break game and convert on these easy-points as much as they can, as this will be crucial for them as surely, the Lions will try to force them into a slower-paced and more physical ball game. The Stags must keep their composure and do things that led them to win 15 straight games.

Prediction: Seeing the way the Stags manhandled the Heavy Bombers, the Stags might eek this one in three games. They have the talent, especially with their rookies, but will the Stags maintain their composure come crunchtime? I think they will.