The NCAA Season 95 basketball tournaments are the 95th basketball season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA). Arellano University are the season hosts. Separate men's and juniors' tournaments are held for male college and senior high school students, respectively.
Bamboo Mañalac and performers from Arellano University performed in the opening ceremony held at the Mall of Asia Arena on July 7, 2019.
The Letran Knights won the men's championship after beating three-time defending champions and erstwhile unbeaten San Beda Red Lions in the Finals. Finishing the elimination round undefeated, the Red Lions advanced to the Finals outright. Letran defeated San Sebastian in the first round of the stepladder semifinals to meet previous year's finalist Lyceum in the second round. The Knights defeated the Pirates to arrange a Finals meeting with the Red Lions. The Finals went the distance, with all three games being decided in the final play of the game. Letran won the title to bring the 18th championship back to Intramuros.
The San Beda Red Cubs won the juniors' title after beating the Lyceum Junior Pirates in the Finals. Both Red Cubs and Junior Pirates finished in the top two seeds after the elimination round. San Beda eliminated the LSGH Greenies, which qualified by defeating the Arellano Braves in a playoff, in the first game to advance to the Finals. Lyceum needed their twice-to-beat advantage to eliminate the San Sebastian Staglets. The Red Cubs handily defeated the Junior Pirates in Game 1, but Lyceum eked out a Game 2 win to force a third game, where San Beda won comprehensively.
Format The association is using this format for 2019: In the seniors and juniors' tournament, ten (10) teams will play in a double round-robin classification. The top four (4) team advance to the playoffs. Once teams are tied, tie-breaker games shall be held for the top four seeds, if necessary. The scenarios after the elimination round ends are the following: If no team doesn't win all elimination round games, the regular playoffs (Final Four) shall be used. If a team wins all elimination round games, that team will gain an automatic bye to the finals and the stepladder playoffs shall be used. In the semifinals, the first and second seed shall earn a twice-to-beat bonus against their respective opponents. These teams shall only need to win once to advance to the finals; while the third and fourth seed teams will need to win twice to advance to the finals. In the stepladder semifinals, the third and fourth seed will play to determine which among them will face the second seed, The winner of the game against the second seed will meet the first seed in the finals. The finals is a best-of-three championship series. Tie-breaker classification rules Head-to-head matchup in the two (2) rounds Goal average between the tied teams Overall goal average
Teams All ten schools are participating. +Men's teams Team College Coach Arellano ChiefsArellano University (AU) Cholo Martin Letran KnightsColegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL) Bonnie TanBenilde BlazersDe La Salle–College of Saint Benilde (CSB) Ty TangEAC GeneralsEmilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Oliver Bunyi JRU Heavy BombersJosé Rizal University (JRU) Louie GonzalezLyceum PiratesLyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Topex RobinsonMapúa CardinalsMapúa University (MU) Randy AlcantaraSan Beda Red LionsSan Beda University (SBU) Boyet Fernandez San Sebastian StagsSan Sebastian College – Recoletos (SSC-R) Edgar Macaraya Perpetual Altas University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (UPHSD) Frankie Lim +Juniors' teamsTeamHigh schoolCoachArellano BravesArellano University (AU) Junjie AblanLetran SquiresColegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL) Raymund ValenzonaEAC-IAC BrigadiersImmaculate Concepcion Academy (IAC) Azlie GuroJRU Light BombersJosé Rizal University (JRU) Vic LazaroLa Salle Green Hills GreeniesLa Salle Green Hills (LSGH) Karl SantosLyceum Junior PiratesLyceum of the Philippines University – Cavite (LPU-C) JC DoctoMapúa Red RobinsMalayan High School of Science (MHSS) Yong GarciaSan Beda Red CubsSan Beda University Rizal (SBUR) Manu IñigoSan Sebastian StagletsSan Sebastian College – Recoletos (SSC-R) Mel BanuaPerpetual Junior AltasUniversity of Perpetual Help System DALTA (UPHSD) Myk Saguiguit
Coaching changes Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date Replaced by DateArellano Chiefs Junjie AblanEnd of spell as interim coachOctober 23, 2018 Cholo MartinOctober 23, 2018Arellano Braves Tylon DarjuanFiredOctober 24, 2018 Junjie AblanOctober 24, 2018Mapua Cardinals Atoy CoEnd of contractOctober 31, 2018 Randy AlcantaraDecember 6, 2018Malayan Red Robins Randy AlcantaraSigned by Mapua CardinalsDecember 6, 2018 Yong GarciaDecember 6, 2018EAC Generals Ariel SisonDemoted to lead assistant coachDecember 7, 2018 Oliver BunyiDecember 7, 2018Letran Knights Jeff NapaEnd of contractJanuary 11, 2019 Bonnie TanJanuary 22, 2019JRU Heavy Bombers Vergel MenesesEnd of contractJanuary 22, 2019 Louie GonzalezApril 1, 2019Lyceum Junior Pirates LA MumarMutual consentDecember 17, 2018 JC DoctoFebruary 9, 2019La Salle Green Hills Greenies Marvin BienvenidaMutual consentMarch 28, 2019 Karl SantosMarch 30, 2019
Uniform changes The Letran Knights and Squires replaced their red uniforms with white ones, after request by the NCAA. Letran traditionally played with their red uniforms as their "light-colored" uniform.
Venues
Like most Metro Manila-centric leagues, most games are held in arenas rented by the league, with games being played in neutral venues. In an innovation dubbed as "NCAA on Tour", starting in 2017, the NCAA will continue holding Thursday games in the first round hosted at the campus of one of the teams that are playing on that day.
Main venues Arena CityMall of Asia Arena PasayFiloil Flying V Centre San JuanCuneta Astrodome Pasay
NCAA on Tour venues Arena Host team CitySan Beda University Gym San Beda Red Lions ManilaEmilio Aguinaldo College Gym EAC Generals ManilaMapua University Gym Mapua Cardinals ManilaUniversity of Perpetual Help System DALTA Gym Perpetual Altas Las PiñasJose Rizal University Gym JRU Heavy Bombers Mandaluyong
Squads Each NCAA team can have up to 15 players on their roster. At least two is allowed to be a foreigner, but only one is allowed to be on court. A team is allowed to have three additional players in the reserve list. The opening day rosters were released on July 2.
This is the final season where non-Filipinos are allowed to play.
Imports Only four foreigners from three teams participated in the final season imports can play. Team Import Country Clement Leutcheu Mike Harry Nzeusseu Donald Tankoua Arnaud Noah
Men's tournament Elimination round At the end of the elimination round, three-time defending champion San Beda finished first with an undefeated season, winning all 18 games. In their final elimination round game, they defeated Lyceum, the last team to win all 18 elimination round games, in 2017. This allowed the Red Lions to advance to the Finals outright, while modifying the usual Final Four format to a stepladder one. The Red Lions, who last finished the elimination round undefeated in 2010, advanced to their 14th consecutive Finals appearance. The Pirates finished second, awaiting the winning of the first round of stepladder semifinals.
The final participant of the Final Four was determined the following day. With Letran already guaranteed the third seed, only the fourth seed was up for grabs. The San Sebastian Stags defeated the Perpetual Altas to eliminate the Mapua Cardinals to qualify. With elimination confirmed, the Cardinals lost the next game against the Benilde Blazers. The last game of the eliminations had season host Arellano losing to JRU.
Team standings
Match-up results
Scores Results on top and to the right of the dashes are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left of it are second-round games.
Bracket
Stepladder semifinals Both rounds are single-elimination.
(3) Letran vs. (4) San Sebastian Letran is in its second consecutive playoffs appearance; San Sebastian is in its first appearance since 2017. Letran was leading 69–52 when San Sebastian cut down the lead to six. Bonbon Batiller scored on two three-pointers to increase Letran's lead to 14, 77–63. RK Ilagan led the Stags to a final run late in the game, reducing the deficit to one point, 81–80 with less than two minutes left. Letran's defense prevented another scoring opportunity for the Stags though, and the Knights held on the win.
(2) Lyceum vs. (3) Letran This is Lyceum's third consecutive playoffs appearance. Lyceum was leading 70–69 when Letran went on a 15–2 run capped with a Jerrick Balanza three pointer midway in the fourth quarter to give them the lead 84–72. Lyceum cut the lead to three, 87–90, but the Knights converted their free-throws to put the game away for good. Balanza, Fran Yu and Larry Muyang scored on that crucial fourth quarter run to clinch the Knights' first Finals appearance since 2015.
Finals This is a best-of-three playoff. This is a rematch of the 2015 Finals which Letran won; this was also their last Finals appearance, and San Beda's last Finals defeat. For three-time defending champion San Beda, this is their 14th consecutive Finals appearance. This is the latest installment of the San Beda–Letran rivalry.
Finals Most Valuable Player: Coach of the Year: In Game 1, San Beda posted manageable leads early in the game, with the halftime score at 32–28. Letran edged out San Beda in a low-scoring third quarter, 39–38. By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Red Lions were leading 58–56 when Fran Yu and Jerrick Balanza each scored a three-pointer, with Larry Muyang converting his free-throws to give Letran the lead 63–60 late in the fourth quarter. Cameroonian Donald Tankoua made a field-goal later on, cutting the lead to one, but Muyang converted a basket to pad the lead to three once again. Evan Nelle made a shot on the next play, bringing back the lead to one in favor of Letran. The Red Lions forced a turnover when Letran ran out the shot-clock with 12 seconds left. Calvin Oftana missed a three-pointer for San Beda that could've given them the lead; Fran Yu rebounded the ball, was fouled, and missed both free-throws, but San Beda failed to grab the rebound as time expired.
San Beda started Game 2 with a 15–0 run; Letran recovered at halftime, cutting San Beda's lead to 12 at 37–25. Letran first took the lead with a Muyang a free-throw of a foul to put the Knights up 44–41. Letran ended the third quarter on an 8–2 run, with Fran Yu converting two three-pointers, to put them up 56–53. In the middle of the fourth period, James Canlas tied the score at 66–all. His San Beda teammate Calvin Oftana ended a 6–0 run to give San Beda a 72–66 lead. Letran then went on an 8–0 run, giving them a 2-point lead late in the fourth period. Oftana converted on a three-point play to give the Red Lions back the lead. On the next play, Bonbon Batiller missed on a close shot with 5.1 seconds left. James Canlas scored on free-throws on the next play to tie the series 1–1.