Lions prove doubters wrong with sweet title run

Entering NCAA Season 99, no one really believed San Beda could seriously contend for the championship.

Except for the San Beda Red Lions, who went on to defy overwhelming odds, prove the doubters wrong and made believers out of them by ruling the diadem that mattered most—the senior basketball crown.

“Not to be arrogant, but in our circle we know our capabilities and have each other’s back,” said San Beda coach Yuri Escueta moments after their series and title-clinching 76-66 Game Three win over Mapua at the packed Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, Dec. 17.

“Yes, there’s stuff that comes out of the media but the important thing is, our belief in each other,” he added.

San Beda was written off early following failures after failures but came out of the ashes to pull off one of the biggest Cinderella stories in league history by slaying season’s giants one by one.

“We joined the D-League, we went to Malaysia, lahat natalo kami. We went to Davao and we couldn’t even beat the team’s dun,” said Escueta. “But these players, they said to themselves na we have to be resilient.”

“Sanay na sila sa adversity early in the season, it’s something we were able to bring into this run of us,” he added.

San Beda’s top patron, Manny V. Pangilinan, and team manager Jude Roque both agreed.

“8 do-or-die games and they crossed the finish line as Champions,” said the man everybody calls MVP on his X (Twitter) account referring to the Lions fighting off the possibility of being eliminated from Final Four contention.

“Such a story. What a feat. Such courage and will—the Red Lions 2023,” he added.

“To those who believed, even when so many others doubted, this one’s for you,” Roque, for his part, said.

Escueta also paid tribute to his coaches and mentors who helped and molded him on his path to glory—Norman Black when he was in Ateneo in college, San Beda predecessor Boyet Fernandez and the late great Ato Badolato when he was still a Red Cub.

“Learned a lot from him (Black). Para kay coach Boyet ito, team niya ito, championship niya ito,” said Escueta, who regretted passing up two offers from Badolato to become San Beda’s high school mentor before the legendary bench tactician’s death two years ago.

“The winning attitude and experience were taught to me early by my high school coach (Badolato). I learned from him what San Beda basketball is all about, its excellence and winning tradition early in my basketball career and taught us his players how to be winners.”

“I always try to talk to him when I’m by myself. I’d like to offer this championship as a thank you to him,” he added.