SAN Beda finally pulled one off against Mapua, 71-65, to send their NCAA men’s basketball Finals to a decider yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

With their backs against the wall, the Red Lions turned to Jacob Cortez to level the best-of-three championship series to one game apiece.

It was San Beda’s first victory against Mapua in four meetings this season, as the two NCAA powerhouses will clash for one final time at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Meanwhile, last season’s runner-up College of Saint Benilde eased the sting of its unmet expectations as it claimed third place with a 93-83 victory over Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Coach Yuri Escueta now have a sigh of relief after the Red Lions finally figured out on how to beat the Cardinals, who topped the elimination round.

“Very special. If there’s one thing that we now know, our players now believe in, is that we can beat them. But it won’t be easy. Knowing coach Randy (Alcantara), of course they’ll prepare, magaadjust sila so we have to be ready for that also, but this is a big win for us against Mapua,” said Escueta.

Cortez scored 11 of his 21 points in the first half as San Beda flipped the switch in the second period and erected a 42-30 lead into the break.

The Cardinals, however, outscored the Red Lions, 23-6 in the third quarter to get as back into the ball game in the final 10 minutes.

With the season on the line, San Beda displayed tremendous composed in the fourth quarter to frustrate Mapua.

The Red Lions have been in this situation before, having beaten second-ranked Pirates twice in the Final Four to advance in the Finals.

“One more week of course. Game 3 it’s the same intensity ang what we want to bring sa Game 3. It’s a do or die game, same din sa ginawa namin today. Sabi ko todo na ito. We’ve been in this situation before, not just one time, but five, six times nangyari sa amin ito. The only thing that we did is we told ourselves to stay together. Huwag sumuko, laban lang hanggang dulo whatever the result is,” Escueta said.

Newly-minted season MVP Clint Escamis led Mapua with 15 points, but struggled on a 4-of-21 shooting from the field.

Paolo Hernandez, one of the Cardinals main offensive weapons, could only muster a 3-of-17 shooting and wound up with 13 points.

Mapua failed to close it out despite outrebounding San Beda, 62-49.

The scores:

San Beda (71) – Cortez 21, Puno 9, Andrada 9, Jopia 8, Alfaro 7, Royo 6, Cuntapay 5, Payosing 4, Tagle 2, Gonzales 0, Visser 0.
Mapua (65) – Escamis 15, Recto 14, Hernandez 13, Soriano 10, Cuenco 5, Rosillo 5, Bonifacio 3, Asuncion 0, Dalisay 0, Bancale 0.
Quarterscores: 20-19, 42-30, 48-53, 71-65.

Game Sunday

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
2 p.m. – Mapua vs San Beda (Finals, Game 3)