FOUR teams determined to break out of an early-season funk take the floor today in the 92nd NCAA basketball tournament at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Sporting 1-3 records, Jose Rizal U and Emilio Aguinaldo College collide at 2 p.m., before St. Benilde shoots for a breakthrough win against a dangerous Lyceum squad.
The Heavy Bombers opened the season with back-to-back losses, but just when it looked like they were turning their fortunes around, they got stopped in their tracks by an inspired Lyceum team last week.
The Pirates picked up their first win at the expense of the Bombers, 69-66, last Friday with first-year coach Topex Robinson satisfied with the effort put in by his squad.
“It’s only the first win, but I feel we’ve improved, but we need to be consistent,” said Robinson, whose team also holds a 1-3 record.
The Pirates flaunted a pair of quality rookies in Cameroonian Mike Nzeusseu and guard Adrian Alban who combined for 20 points in the fourth quarter of the win against JRU.
Nzeusseu bullied his way to 24 points and grabbed 21 rebounds, while Alban had a season-high 19 points, including 10 in the final period.
The Blazers are hoping to avoid a 0-6 start that could mean early elimination from the Final Four race.
St. Benilde coach Gabby Velasco hopes his squad has recovered from the 63-90 loss to the Red Lions last Friday. Yankee Haruna and Christian Lentcheu dished out solid games, but the Blazers couldn’t muster enough offense from the likes of JJ Domingo and Carlo Young.
The Generals were left ruing a missed opportunity of pulling off an upset at the expense of the Mapua Cardinals last Friday as Francis Munsayac missed a potential game tying triple at the buzzer in a 67-70 loss.