Calvin Abueva (left) grabs one of his season-high 23 rebounds against San Beda's Elvin Pascual to help power the San Sebastian Stags to a 72-68 win in Game 1 of their NCAA basketball title series Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum. (Photo by BOB DUNGO JR.)

Games on Saturday (Araneta Coliseum)
2 p.m. — Letran vs San Beda (Jrs)
p.m. — San Sebastian vs San Beda (Srs)

San Sebastian tries to end the three-year reign of San Beda when they collide in a pivotal Game 2 of their title series this Saturday in the 85th NCAA basketball finals before an expected banner at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Behind the end game heroics of rookie Calvin Abueva and the steady performance of Jimbo Aquino, the rookie-laden Stags edged the more experienced Red Lions in a pulsating double overtime 72-68 win last Thursday to gain a head start in their best-of-three title series.

The win moved the Stags a win away from clinching their first crown after winning back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002 seasons.

The Stags can go for the title – their 12th overall – with another win in their 4 p.m. showdown with the Red Lions, who for the first time in three years started the finals on a losing note.

While San Beda needs to dig deep into its bag of tricks to force a rubber match on Thursday next week, its junior squad, the Red Cubs, on the other hand, need only to win today in their 2 p.m. encounter with the Letran Squires to clinch their 17th crown overall.

The Red Cubs routed the Squires, 98-75, to take Game One of their own best-of-three series also last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Jose Rizal University’s John Wilson is expected to receive his Most Valuable Player award after the juniors game. Louie Vigil, another Bomber, will also be named the MVP in the high school division.

With their latest win, SSC rookie coach Ato Agustin believes they have the momentum on their side.

“We have a high morale right now, kailangan samantalahin namin ang pagkakataon,” said Agustin, who was elated with the resolve showed by his boys in the extra 10 minutes.

In fact, the Stags never lost composure despite being held scoreless in the last five minutes of the regulation game.

“Maganda yung experience namin na nakapaglaro kami sa overtime. The boys showed a lot of composure and pinakita nila na they can handle the pressure,” Agustin said.

It was indeed an impressive win for the Stags considering that none of his players, including him have ever played in the finals, a stark contrast with the Red Lions, who have seven players that played in their title run the past three years.

The poise that the Stags showed in Game One was best typified by Abueva, who made the go-ahead free throws that gave the Stags a 72-68 win 6.9 seconds left.