La Salle Greenhills 85 San Beda 82

I attended my high school's championship game yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum (it still feels funny calling it the Smart Araneta Coliseum, sorry). My La Salle Green Hills Greenies was up against the San Beda Red Cubs. LSGH, the College of St. Benilde's junior team in the NCAA rode its momentum from their last game against the Letran Squires and held San Beda at bay for most of the first quarter. The second quarter was a different story as the Red Cubs showed why they had been unbeaten the whole season as they slowly chopped the deficit with their composure and high-octane offense, eventually ending the half down just by three, 41-38, with a trey just before the buzzer sounded.

LSGH player introductions. Unsteady photo by me.

After the break, San Beda continued its relentless pressure on offense, complete with stunning no-look passes and inspired play. The Greenies seemed to be stuck on neutral as the Red Cubs capitalized on missed shots and poor rebounding from La Salle. After three, it was LSGH 63, San Beda 62. It was a heart-stopping last period as both clubs stepped up their performances with the Red Cubs eventually taking the lead with only a few minutes to go. That's when back-up center Andre Paras, son of retired cager Benjie, took over. The younger Paras scored 11 of his 13 points in the pivotal fourth as LSGH won back the lead. The Greenies had several chances to ice the game but were missing free throws down the stretch. In the end, they held on to win the thriller, 85-82 ending San Beda's unbeaten run at 18 games. Forward Jon Villaruz led La Salle with 22 points. Thomas Torres nearly dished out a triple-double performance with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 7 dimes. San Beda still enjoys a twice-to-beat advantage heading into the next match scheduled for next week.

While LSGH won, it was still far from a perfect game. They allowed San Beda to get fast break points as the Red Cubs easily broke the Greenies' press. They were also outrebounded by their opponents 51-39. And most importantly, they only made 23 of 40 shots from the free throw line. Hopefully, these problems will be addressed before the next game.

Animo La Salle.