Letran Aims for Third Win Against San Beda in NCAA Season 102
The finalists of a season ago return to center stage on Thursday, but they arrive at San Juan Arena carrying very different burdens.
Letran walks in with momentum and swagger, eyeing a 3-0 start and a share of early-season authority. San Beda, the reigning champion, shows up searching for something far more basic: its first win of Season 102.
Knights riding Walker’s wave
The Knights have been ruthless in their opening salvoes, stitching together back-to-back clinical wins to open their campaign. At 5 p.m., they face winless Emilio Aguinaldo College, a Generals side desperate to halt a worrying slide before it hardens into their identity.
Letran’s surge has a clear catalyst. In just two games, newest reinforcement Denzil Walker has gone from intriguing addition to central pillar. The former University of the Philippines wing dropped 21 points on Perpetual, then followed it up with 25 against San Sebastian — numbers that didn’t just pad the box score, they steadied a roster suddenly stripped of familiar anchors.
With key pieces Deo Cuajao and Jun Roque out of the picture, that production is no luxury. It is the lifeline of a Muralla-based squad trying to prove its title credentials haven’t thinned with its depth.
Walker’s 6-foot-4 frame and versatility have given coach Allen Ricardo a different kind of weapon, one that can bully mismatches, stretch defenses, and dictate tempo. Around him, Ricardo will again lean on the support acts of Chad Gammad and Titing Manalili, who are being asked not just to complement, but to expand their roles in a leaner rotation.
The expectation is clear: another sharp, authoritative outing. Because across from them stands an EAC group with nothing to protect and everything to chase.
Generals fighting to break the skid
The Generals may be winless, but they are not lifeless. Their most recent outing — a narrow 91-87 defeat to Arellano on Tuesday — showed a team still willing to scrap, still close enough to the right side of the result to be dangerous.
They will again turn to Jude Bagay, Kyle Ochavo, MJ Raymundo and Jacob Shanoda to carry the scoring load and the emotional weight of a team trying to wrench itself out of a slump. That quartet has the tools to keep games close; the question is whether they can finally close one.
Against a Letran side humming early, EAC cannot afford a slow start. One bad quarter, and the Knights have shown they can slam the door.
Red Lions on the rebound
The 3 p.m. curtain-raiser offers a different kind of intrigue. San Beda, chasing a third straight crown, has yet to taste victory this season and now runs into the always-dangerous Lyceum Pirates.
The Red Lions’ rhythm has already taken a hit. A scheduled game against Jose Rizal University was wiped out by heavy rains, an abrupt pause that followed an opening stumble against College of Saint Benilde. For a program accustomed to setting the pace, the stop-start beginning has been jarring.
Now comes the response.
San Beda enters this clash needing not just a win, but a performance that looks and feels like the standard it has set over the past two seasons. The Pirates, for their part, will sense opportunity: a champion still finding its footing, a heavyweight trying to shake off early-season rust.
Two storylines, one afternoon: a Letran squad trying to stretch a perfect start into a statement, and a San Beda team trying to prove that its slow opening is a blip, not a warning. By the time the lights dim at San Juan, the shape of Season 102’s early pecking order will look a little clearer — or a lot more complicated.
