Three teams will look to book their second win in a row as the NCAA Season 99 men's basketball tournament approaches the final stretch of the first round on Friday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
Arellano University and Emilio Aguinaldo College, both coming off big victories, will collide at 4 p.m. following the 2 p.m. encounter of the San Sebastian College-Recoletos and University of Perpetual Help System DALTA with the Stags also looking to win their second consecutive outing.
The Chiefs are fresh from a losing streak-ending victory against defending champion Colegio de San Juan de Letran over the weekend with Felix Villarente and Troy Valencia steering Arellano to an 87-80 triumph as they improved to 1-4.
EAC, on the other hand, is also high in morale coming into the game. The Generals previously dealt league-leading Lyceum of the Philippines University its first taste of loss as veterans King Gurtiza and Nat Cosejo took charge in their 83-76 overtime escape en route to a 3-2 card.
Rookie head coach Jerson Cabiltes isn't putting too much premium on the win, stressing every team has the ability to contend for the title this season.
"All teams are contenders. Arellano dumikit sa Lyceum, Arellano beat Letran, all the games of Letran are close, and JRU natalo sa Baste so lahat 'yan contenders," Cabiltes said.
"Wala naman masyadong nabago sa EAC, it's just that we're just playing harder and we're more aggressive. Good thing na sumusunod 'yung players to my instructions."
(All teams are contenders. Arellano was close with Lyceum, Arellano beat Letran, all the games of Letran were close. JRU lost to Baste so all of them are contenders. There is nothing much new with EAC, it's just we're playing harder and more aggressive. It's a good thing that players are following my instructions.)
In the first game, San Sebastian and Perpetual will square off after coming off contrasting results in their previous matches.
The Stags ended their two-game slump after eking out a decisive 72-59 against a red-hot Jose Rizal University side with seasoned ballers Jessie Sumoda and Romel Calahat showing the way. Prior to that, San Sebastian lost to Lyceum and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
They will be slugging it out now against the ALTAs, who are eager to bounce back from defeats at the hands of JRU and Benilde that sent them to a dismal 1-4 slate despite an impressive preseason campaign.
Perpetual is expected to bank on the youthful duo of Cyrus Nitura and Jun Roque, who are currently leading the squad with identical average of 12.8 points with the former collecting 6.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 0.8 steals.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
