One week break a big help as San Beda braces for elims homestretch
San Beda made sure to take advantage of the one-week break to prepare for its grueling schedule in the final two weeks of the eliminations in the NCAA Season 97.

Head coach Boyet Fernandez admitted that the Red Lions are already bracing for the tough homestretch of their schedule where they are expected to play five games in the span of two weeks, capped by a showdown with rival Letran Knights in the final day of the elimination on April 29.
“It’s the schedule eh we have no qualms with that, we have no complains with that because earlier other teams also played the same as us when we were looking forward with that,” said Fernandez after San Beda completed an 82-68 rout of Arellano on Easter Sunday.
Fernandez said the team put the nine-day break to a good use, evident in their balanced attack that saw seven Red Lions scoring with at least eight points to remain undefeated in five games. Players like Gab Cometa, Justine Sanchez and Winston Ynot all played solid off the bench, providing support to their top guns in James Kwekuteye and Ralph Penuela.
“We took the advantage since Holy Week. At least, nakapag nilay nilay din kami and then we also had (the chance) to prepare for our future games. We are looking at five games in two weeks. We already got Sunday then we’re looking at the four games remaining,” he added.
San Beda will be playing Perpetual Help on Wednesday, Mapua on Saturday and College of St. Benilde on Tuesday next week before the much-anticipated game against Letran.
Getting enough time to prepare ahead of the grueling schedule was deemed crucial for Fernandez especially that his squad is trying to protect one of the top two spots in the standings until the end of the eliminations.
“This is a very young team. I’m not putting reasons for us pero talagang mga bata pa talaga. If you look at it, it’s more than 60 percent are new players, new lineup coming from different systems in high school, provinces and different schools so talagang kulang pa yung preparation,” said the champion coach.
“We make use of the time that we are together and hopefully we can improve just like one week kami nag-off,” he added. “We make those nine days really special for us. We practice really hard at kasama na rin yung pagninilay nilay ng Holy Week so medyo napaganda.”