Knights test Altas; Blazers vs Stags

MANILA, Philippines - Letran and Perpetual Help clash today in a duel of early winners while St. Benilde try to keep a share of the lead against a fancied San Sebastian side out to rebound from opening day setback in the 88th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Knights rode on a 31-point explosion of Kevin Alas to stun the Stags, 80-74, in Saturday’s opener while the Altas used a balanced scoring attack to hurdle the Lyceum Pirates, 82-70, last Thursday.

“Perpetual is an entirely different team with some new players and a multi-titled coach I respect a lot,” said Letran coach Louie Alas, referring to Aric del Rosario, who came out of retirement to handle the Altas.

The Knights and the Altas collide at 6 p.m. while the Blazers and the Stags square off at 4 p.m.

Del Rosario, best remembered for steering UST to a four-peat from 1993, is expected to lean again on the prolific pair of Jet Vidal and Earl Thompson, who combined for 33 points against the Pirates, and the Nigerian tandem of 6-4 Nosa Omorogbe and 6-6 Ariyo Babayemi, who accounted for 20 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks.

Meanwhile, the Blazers, who banked on Carlo Lastimosa’s endgame heroics to turn back the Pirates, 70-61, last Monday, face a tough challenge against the Stags, who are expected to bounce back from their stinging opening game defeat.

St. Benilde coach Richard del Rosario said they couldn’t afford to play the same defense they played against Lyceum to have a chance against San Sebastian, which is expected to rely anew on the threesome of Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang and Ronald Pascual.

“We can’t play the same way we did last time, San Sebastian will eat us alive,” said del Rosario.