It was a rough and tumble game but in the end San Beda hung tough for the pull-away 85 - 69 victory to claim the 2009 Nike Summer League championship over San Sebastian. Early on, the Stags served notice that this would, quite literally, be a fight to the end against the Red Lions, and to their eternal credit, San Beda didn’t bite, but boy did they roar.

In a game that saw a couple of warnings, technical fouls and unsportsmanlike fouls whistled as early as the second period, the Red Lions showed true grit and would not be drawn into a fracas. That was not however for lack of trying on the part of San Sebastian.

Veteran guards Ray Maconocido and Pamboy Raymundo were the prime culprits as they snuck in cheap shots of all manner against San Beda newcomer Jessmar Villahermosa. Maconocido snapped a couple of rabbit punches into Villahermosa's midsection, even as Raymundo deliberately tripped him in an ensuing play. Villahermosa however kept his cool and even baited the two Stags to keep up with the cheap shots even in front of the referees. Both were slapped with technical fouls and later on unsportsmanlike fouls and simply never got into the groove of the game.

In the third period, when San Beda was pulling away at 53-41, Gilbert Bulawan tried the same roughhouse tactics against American import Sudan Daniels. Taunting Daniels after he made a basket, Bulawan was warned by referee Boyong Manalac. Daniels later on scored on an under-goal stab and got his own licks in as he nailed Bulawan when he secured a defensive board for the Red Lions. Bulawan had to be pulled out after he crumpled to the floor under the east basket.

Had the Stags just stuck to their usual play, they might have made this a little more interesting. Apparently they tried to make up for the absence of top recruit Ian Sangalang and head coach Ato Agustin with that borderline felonious play, a ploy that simply backfired. A veteran officiating crew led by NABRO veteran Boyong Manalac was calling the shots for the championship game and the kind of tactics employed by Maconocido and Raymundo were easily caught by the referees.

Aquino was hitting his shots, as was Jonathan Semira, and they were finding the open man well enough. San Beda wasn’t able to pull away in spite of their advantage in manpower and size. All San Sebastian had to do was run their usual motion offense and have their forwards crash the boards as they had done all throughout the tournament with great success. Sangalang, the 6-foot-6 center-forward formerly with the RP Youth team, and Agustin were reportedly in sick bay and were not even in the venue.

By the last three minutes, head coach Frankie Lim's boys had started to pull away from 71-63 midway through the payoff fourth period, as JR Tecson, Daniels, Garvo Lanete and Bam Gamalinda went in for the kill baskets. San Beda fans, already with their hackles raised by all the roughhousing earlier in this game, finally came alive in a good way as they cheered the Red Lions to the runaway victory.

"This gives us good momentum going into the NCAA," said Lim after the game. "I'm proud of the boys for doing a good job and maintaining their composure," he added.

Daniels was named MVP of the tournament. "This is just so special not just for me but for the team. Hopefully we can bring this all the way to the NCAA," he said. He was joined on the Mythical 5 selection by his San Beda teammate JR Tecson, as well as Jimbo Aquino of San Sebastian and Reymar Gutilban of Letran. Ryan Roose Garcia of FEU was the lone UAAP player in the Mythical 5.

FEU also hung on for the 70 – 69 decision to claim third place against Letran. Cameroonian forward Pipo Nuondoo led the charge of the Tamaraws.

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Letran claimed the junior division championship over Santo Tomas behind the dynamic duo of Jerelan Tampus and Glen Khobuntin 79 – 76 at the Nike home court at the FEU Gym.

In a match-up between two of the most athletic and deepest rosters in the high school game, the Squires jumped out to an early lead and looked set to cruise to the easy victory. 6-foot-4 center Jeff Ongteco set the tone early for Letran with back to back alley-oops hanging around at the baseline. Tampus, Khobuntin, Mark Cruz and Archie Inigo got in on the act as well as the Squires displayed crisp passing and ball movement to get incursion after incursion in the lane.

Kyle Neypes, Storm Riva, Molline Gonzalez and Jazreel Jimenez however were not about to let the Tiger Cubs go down without a fight. Neypes, frustrated by the tight guarding of the taller Ongteco and the strongly-built Khobuntin, found other ways to help his team. Playing decoy at the low blocks and finding Gonzalez and Jimenez at the perimeter, the Tiger Cubs cut a 36-24 lead down to 38-34.

Tampus responded as he turned up the aggressiveness going hard to the rack on every opportunity. UST just could not put a quick enough and strong enough body on the Letran swingman as he repeatedly attacked the baseline as well as the lateral angles and used the boards masterfully on a variety of layups. Khobuntin helped by crashing the boards and providing rebounding coverage along with Ongteco. Cruz and Inigo controlled the tempo and distributed the ball evenly and spaced the Letran floor.

Gonzalez came back in the payoff fourth period by turning it up on the defensive end and then breaking out in transition. He and Riva played stronger on-ball defense against the Squire guards and generated a bunch of turnovers. O formidable 68-58 Letran lead came down to 69-65 midway through the quarter. Even as Tampus and Cruz kept the Tiger Cubs at bay, Jimenez suddenly found his range and completed a one-man 8-0 run to make it 72-70 in the last minute and change.

Letran however kept their composure and remained steady at the foul line all the way to the final count.

Tampus was named the tournament MVP. Joining him in the Mythical 5 were Neypes and Gonzalez, as well as Louie Vigil of third-placer JRU and Lasalle Zobel hotshot Luigi De La Paz.

Vigil led the LRU Light Bombers in overtime to claim third place over De La Paz and Lasalle Zobel in a tightly-fought battle.