San Beda Univeristy had a recent pep talk with one of the 1991 Red Lions to motivate the squad heading into Game 2 of the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball finals.
Head coach Yuri Escueta said Teddy Alamarez, who played with the late Boybits Victoria, gave a motivational talk to the new batch to not fold to Mapua University in this best-of-three championship series.
The Lions edged the Cardinals, 71-65, in Game 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday to force a winner-take-all on 17 December at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“He was the guy who missed the box out kay Benny Cheng in 1991,” Escueta said.
“So he just told our players to fight until the end and don’t let the opportunities slip, diba, which is really encouraged and inspired everyone, not just the players, even the coaches.”
Alamarez and Victoria lost to Cheng, Chito Victolero and Randy Alcantara, the current Mapua head coach, in the 1991 finals which was also the last time the Intramuros-based squad last won an NCAA championship.
Now San Beda has the chance to win the title and avoid the same mistake the previous batch did 32 years ago.NCAA
“If there’s one thing that we now know, our players now believe in, is that we can beat them,” Escueta said.
