College of St. Benilde stakes the solo lead against a resurgent Lyceum of the Philippines University when the two clash Friday in NCAA Season 100 at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.
The Blazers saw their unblemished record stained by a painful 71-69 defeat at the hands of the Letran Knights Sunday, but fortunately kept their lone grip on the lead with a 4-1 card.
CSB will be playing minus its starting point guard Jhomel Ancheta, who will serve his one-game suspension for hitting the back of Letran big Pao Javillonar’s head in that fateful defeat.
“We play a great offensive team in Lyceum so I hope we are ready to defend,” said CSB coach Charles Tiu.
But they won’t be alone there anymore if the Pirates, who have strung together three straight wins after starting the season with two straight defeats, could end up pulling the rug from under them in their 2:30 p.m. showdown.
LPU should come in oozing with confidence after it stung last year’s runner-up Mapua, in a 96-81 win Tuesday that boosted its Final Four stock and while looking like the title-contending side that it should have been after keeping the core of its roster from a year ago.
While LPU should come in relying on the prolific duo of John Barba and Mclaude Guadaña, who had 25 and 16 points, respectively, attention should also focus on an unlikely source—Jonathan Daileg.
Daileg poured in water to the plant of resurrection that ignited a decisive 31-point fourth quarter deluge where he sneaked in nine points.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals will try to bounce back from that stinging setback as it tackles the slumping San Sebastian Stags at 12 p.m.
A win for Mapua (3-2) would keep its place in the magic four while SSC-R (2-4) aims to end a four-game losing slump with a win.
