The rivalry continues between the Red Lions and the Knights; Golden Stags out to take the Chiefs down

San Beda seeks to close in on a historic elimination round sweep as it takes on archrival Letran today in the 86th NCAA basketball tournament at The Fil-Oil/Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The Lions showed defensive spunk in smashing the surprisingly listless Jose Rizal Bombers, 78-46, Monday to notch their 14th straight game, their longest since winning 14 straight on the way to the title four seasons back.

One more victory by San Beda in its 4 p.m. duel with Letran, which is already out of it with a 6-8 (win-loss) slate, would duplicate last year’s winner San Sebastian’s 15-game streak.

Another one—against San Sebastian on Wednesday—would seal the Lions the league’s first sweep since the Stags achieved the feat 13 years ago while clinching them an outright spot in the best-of-three finale.

But don’t tell it to San Beda coach Frankie Lim, who would quickly brush any talks of a sweep.

“It’s going to be tough, we’ll see after the Letran game,” said Lim, who steered the school to two titles and a runner-up finish during his first three seasons as coach.

San Sebastian, for its part, squares off with an already ran Arellano U (5-9) at 2 p.m. hoping to remain in the hunt in finishing on top after the eliminations.

The Stags turned back the hard-fighting Mapua Cardinals, 85-76, also last Monday to clinch their 13th win in 14 matches and the other twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.

But San Sebastian mentor Ato Agustin knows the Final Four incentive wouldn’t matter if San Beda goes on to sweep its way to the finals and forcing the former to fight it off two more foes in a stepladder semifinals for the right to meet the latter.

“We all know that the twice-to-beat advantage wouldn’t matter if San Beda sweeps the elimination. So we really have to prepare for the San Beda game and hopefully force a Final Four.

But first, Agustin said they would need to hurdle the Chiefs, a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“Our aim now is to invest in the future and just try to be competitive,” said Arellano U coach Leo Isaac.