Streaking Lyceum of the Philippines University and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde will seek to solidify their positions for the next round when the two red-hot squads lock horns on Friday in the NCAA Season 99.
LPU (10-3) and Benilde (9-4) will open the double-header at 1:30 p.m. with the Pirates hoping to gain a share of leadership with Mapua University (11-3) while San Beda University (8-4) and University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (6-7) will tangle at 3:30 p.m.
LPU and Benilde are two of the hottest teams right now in the league with the Pirates protecting a four-game winning streak that saw them escape JRU, EAC, Mapua, and Letran in tight affairs.
They, however, idly fell to second spot by virtue of an 83-77 victory by Mapua over the Generals last Wednesday that allowed the Cardinals to regain the solo top spot.
A Pirates' win against the Blazers will again send them to a tie at the top as the race to the Final Four gets more intense as the season goes deeper.
The peaking Blazers, meanwhile, are expected to go full throttle with reigning MVP Will Gozum finally finding his footing after a struggling first round. Right now, the Taft crew is riding a five-game surge, beating Letran, Mapua, Perpetual, Arellano, and JRU to keep themselves in the semis frame.
In the second game, San Beda and Perpetual will also seek to improve their respective standings with a few games left in their elimination round assignment.
Both teams are coming off wins with the Red Lions pulling off an 81-71 victory against EAC last Sunday to bounce back from tough back-to-back losses to Arellano and San Sebastian while the ALTAs previously dealt losses to JRU and Arellano to stay alive in the tourney.
San Beda will continue relying on third-year standouts Jacob Cortez and Yukien Andrada, who are currently the top two scorers for the Red Lions, as well as rookie Jomel Puno and rising star James Payosing.
Their mettle will be tested against a Perpetual side whose depth has been impressive all season long with the likes Christian Pagaran, Jun Roque, Cyrus Nitura, Jielo Razon, and Mark Omega showing the way.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
