NCAA Season 94: Altas eye share of third
Games Tuesday (Filoil Flying V Centre, San Juan)
10 a.m.- CSB vs EAC (jrs)
12 nn.- UPHSD vs JRU (jrs)
2 p.m.- CSB vs EAC (srs)
4 p.m.- UPHSD vs JRU (srs)
Perpetual Help seeks to rely anew on Nigerian Prince Eze as it shoots for a share of third spot with Letran against a struggling Jose Rizal today in the 94th NCAA basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
The 6-9 Eze tipped in the game-winning shot with 3.3 seconds to go as the Altas capped their dramatic comeback from a 21-point deficit with a 78-76 victory over the luckless San Sebastian Stags Thursday at the UPHSD Gym in Las Pinas.
It was a win that kept Perpetual Help inside the magic four with a 3-2 (win-loss) record and another triumph over JRU, which has dropped its first six outings, in their4 p.m. match will push the former at joint No. 3 with Letran (4-2).
Unbeaten Lyceum of the Philippines University (7-0) and San Beda (5-0) currently lead the way.
Eze finished with 22 points including nine in the decisive fourth quarter run and spiked it with game-highs 18 rebounds and six blocks that also earned him the Chooks to Go-NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week award.
And Perpetual Help coach Frankie Lim expects Eze to come through for the team again.
“We need him to come up big for us every game and help open up a bit for the other guys,” said Lim referring to Eze, who has been leading the league in rebounding (16.8) and blocking (5.6) while remaining sixth in scoring (15.4).
Meanwhile, resurgent Emilio Aguinaldo College aims to extend its streak to three as it squares off with an unpredictable College of St. Benilde at 2 p.m.
Led by Cameroonian Hamadou Laminou’s 17-point, 12-board and six-block effort, the Generals edged the Mapua Cardinals, 89-85, Friday to nail their second win in a row after starting the season with four straight losses.
“We hope to sustain the momentum and keep on winning more games,” said EAC mentor Ariel Sison.
While EAC hopes to stretch its winning ways, CSB is itching to bounce back from a 65-77 setback to LPU last week and improve on its 2-4 (win-loss) card.
