San Beda inched closer to an outright Final Four berth berth with a 67-63 win over College of Saint Benilde Tuesday in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the La Salle Greenhills Gym.
James Kwekuteye nailed a go-ahead triple in the final 51.7 seconds to lift the Red Lions to their seventh win in eight games.
Still sitting in second place, San Beda will be an interested spectator when Mapua, which is running third with a 6-2 slate, faces Lyceum of the Philippines University at 12 noon Wednesday. A loss by the Cardinals will hand the Lions the automatic Final Four berth.
A Mapua victory will force San Beda into a must-win situation against Letran on Friday, as the Cardinals hold the tiebreaker over the Lions in case both teams will end up tied at No. 2 after the elims.
Mapua defeated San Beda, 68-54, last Saturday to boosted its bid for an outright Final Four slot.
Ending its elims stint with a 5-4 card, CSB found its chances to advance to the Final Four outright snuffed out.
The Blazers have assured of the No. 4 ranking in the play-in stage on May 1, where they will play the third-best team in the eliminations for the third Final Four berth.
The loser of that match will face the winner of the showdown between the No. 5 and 6 teams for last Final Four slot.
Kwekuteye, the Lions leader, came through with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Jacob Cortez, the son of former pro and collegiate star Mike, made his presence felt in his NCAA debut. Replacing Dan Villejo, Cortez contributed seven points, two assists and two boards.
“His advice, college is more of IQ level of basketball unlike high school na mas bara-bara,” said Cortez, who went to the United States when the country was in heightened lockdown to hone further his skills.