The Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers and San Beda Red Lions made history on Sunday, setting up the first all-NCAA championship showdown in the FilOil Preseason Cup on Sunday, July 19.
JRU booked its first FilOil finals appearance since the tournament's inaugural season in 2006 with an 82-73 victory over the Letran Knights.
It also marked the first time an NCAA team reached the FilOil finals since 2019, the year before the league implemented its ban on foreign student-athletes.
In the second semifinal, San Beda stunned three-time champion UP, 93-72, to complete the historic all-NCAA title matchup.
The Red Lions were also the last NCAA team to win the FilOil crown, defeating the De La Salle Green Archers in the 2019 championship.
They reached three consecutive finals from 2017 to 2019, while the last NCAA finalist before that was Arellano University, which lost to La Salle in 2016.
Since the tournament returned in 2022 after the pandemic, UAAP schools have dominated the competition, partly because of their foreign reinforcements, earning finals berths in four straight FilOil Cups.
This year, however, was different. All but one UAAP team fell to an NCAA opponent in the quarterfinals, paving the way for a predominantly NCAA semifinal field.
In the quarterfinals, NU bowed to JRU before UST lost to Letran in overtime. While UP took care of business against Mapua, fellow UAAP squad DLSU fell to San Beda.
San Beda honors JV Gallego
San Beda entered its semifinal clash against UP just a day after the untimely death of former Red Lion JV Gallego, who died in a vehicular accident. He was 28.
Gallego, a member of San Beda's NCAA Season 99 championship team, became the emotional inspiration behind the Red Lions' dominant performance as the team rallied around his memory.
"I think 80% of our talk was about JV," San Beda assistant coach Andrei Santos said. "Coach Yuri [Escueta] mostly shared his experiences with JV. Looking back, we remembered the good times because this was the first time we had seen each other since he passed. We found out about his passing after practice."
"[JV] embodied sacrifice, and he's such a great inspiration to us in terms of staying ready when someone's name is called. That's what happened today. The guys played inspired basketball. They played for something greater than themselves, greater than our team. They really played for JV today."
San Beda came out firing, opening the game with a 12-0 run and never relinquishing control. The Red Lions led by as many as 26 points against a UP side that struggled to generate offense throughout the contest.
Dominic Sarigumba paced San Beda with 17 points, seven assists, two rebounds, and two steals, while former UP big man Aldous Torculas added 14 points.
Veejay Pre scored 10 points for the Fighting Maroons, the lone UAAP representative in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, JRU will once again lean on transferees Chris Hubilla and Lawrence Mangubat after the duo powered the Heavy Bombers past Letran.
Hubilla finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, three steals, and an assist, while Mangubat contributed 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
The best-of-three FilOil Preseason Cup finals begin on Tuesday, July 21, with tip-off set for 5 p.m.