After three cancelled games, College of St. Benilde is raring to go as it eyes a share of the lead when it tangles with Arellano University in the 95th NCAA men’s basketball tournament today at The Arena in San Juan.
The last time CSB played was July 30 when it downed San Sebastian College-Recoletos, 77-72. Since then, the games of the Blazers have been postponed because of bad weather.
The game between Blazers and the Chiefs is set at 4 p.m., right after the 2 p.m. encounter featuring the Mapua Cardinals and the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals at 4 p.m.
Mapua is fresh from a 73-64 win against host school Arellano last Saturday for the team’s first win that snapped a five-game skid, tying its victim and EAC for eighth to 10th places in the standings.
Focus, however, is on CSB since the Blazers will be aiming to stay tied with defending three-time champion San Beda University, which moved up to solo lead over the weekend with a 5-0 card following a 70-66 win opposite archrival Letran at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
St. Benilde will have center Justin Gutang back in lineup after missing the previous game, and coach TY tang said the suspension of games gave the veteran player time to rest and recover from a knee injury.
“We expect him to be play against Arellano. We didn’t play for almost two weeks, and that gave him time to recover,” said Tang, who is now on his third season with the Blazers.
The league has already cancelled three games this month.
In the three playing dates, all these involved CSB matches since the Blazers were supposed to face the Red Lions last Aug. 2, the Knights last Aug. 6 and the Bombers of Jose Rizal University last Friday.
Tang said that they just continue practicing in hopes to correct some mistakes during their first four games.
“We just kept on practicing during that two-week period. Now it’s time for us to buckle down to work against. We expect a tough game against Arellano – nothing is easy here in the league. We always have to grind it out,” added Tang, a former PBA player for Rain or Shine.
Arellano, on the other hand, has not tasted victory since an 86-77 triumph versus EAC late last month as the Chiefs lost a close fight against the Perpetual Help Altas last July 30, 75-73, and to the Cardinals.
-WAYLON GALVEZ
Standings W L
San Beda 5 0
St. Benilde 4 0
Lyceum 5 1
Letran 5 2
JRU 3 4
San Sebastian 2 3
Perpetual Help 2 4
Arellano 1 5
EAC 1 5
Mapua 1 5
Games Today (The Arena, San Juan)
10 a.m. – Mapua vs EAC (Jrs)
12 n.n. – Arellano vs CSB (Jrs)
2 p.m. – Mapua vs EAC (Srs)
4 p.m. – Arellano vs CSB (Srs)
