LETRAN is gearing up for Sunday’s deciding Game 3 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) finals against College of Saint Benilde with or without key player Fran Yu.
“Hopefully the league lifts Yu’s suspension, which we appealed,” Letran assistant coach Jarren Jarencio told Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Yu, in his last playing year in the NCAA, was suspended one game for a “disqualifying foul” on St. Benilde’s Mark Sangco in Game 2 which the Blazers won, 76-71, last Sunday. Letran won the opener, 81-75.
The victory forced a rubber match on Sunday at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City between the “three-peat” seeking Knights and the Blazers, who has yet to win an NCAA title since 2000.
Jarencio said the Knights are hoping for the best and bracing for the worst.
“We made adjustments in practice, we looked for someone who’ll fill in for Fran [Yu],” Jarencio said. “But it would be better if his suspension is lifted.”
Jarencio, son of NorthPort coach Pido Jarencio in the Philippine Basketball Association, also believes that momentum had shifted in favor of the Blazers. But the one-week break heading to Game 3 could stop it.
“The one-week break could work against their momentum,” Jarencio said in the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Milo, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Jarencio said the Knights are preparing for the final game of the season the way they should and since the game will be played in Antipolo, the team will head to Rizal way ahead of Game 3.
“We’ll ‘bubble’ in Antipolo,” he said.