INQUIRER Sports

THE EXPECTED BLOCKBUSTER BATTLE between ?four-peat?-seeking San Beda Red Lions and the fired up Letran Knights has been moved to Friday as the league cited the widespread destruction left by Tropical Storm ?Ondoy.?

In a statement late yesterday, the NCAA league policy board decided to postpone today?s four-game hoop bill ?to give all people devastated by [the typhoon time] to recover.?

League officials also called off the games last Monday, which included a crucial match between the league-leading San Sebastian Stags and the Jose Rizal U Bombers.

?We?re sliding down the rest of the schedule [to the next game day],? said NCAA management committee chair Jose Mari Lacson. ?Most of the players are not affected, but it will give time for the schools to clean up. It will also give students chance to help the typhoon victims.?

On Friday, the Lions shoot for solo second against the fourth-running Knights at 4 p.m. at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Eliminated teams Mapua and Angeles U Foundation tangle at 2 p.m., with their junior counterparts also tangling at 10 a.m. The Red Cubs and the Squires clash at 11:45 a.m.

The Lions, bannered by American center Sudan Daniel, remain tied for second spot with the Bombers at 14-2.

Another victory will push the Lions just half a game behind the 15-1 record of the Stags.

Only the top two squads at the end of the elimination round will clinch the twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.

But the Lions will go up against the pumped up Knights, who pulled off the biggest upset yet of the season with an emphatic 80-63 Friday triumph that snapped the San Sebastian Stags? record 15-game winning streak.