University of Perpetual Help System Dalta tries to secure a spot in the Final Four when it battles San Sebastian in Season 100 National Collegiate Athletic Association juniors’ basketball tournament today at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Game time is at 8 a.m. with the Junior Altas looking to seal their second consecutive semifinal appearance, which will also be their third time since joining the country’s oldest collegiate league in 1985.
Perpetual is coming off a 103-84 win over Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) last Sunday and head coach Joph Cleofas is looking for their seventh win in eight matches to tighten their grip on the top spot.
Standing behind the Junior Altas are Letran College and Mapua University with identical 5-2 win-loss cards while San Beda University, EAC, and La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) are at the third spot with 4-3 slates.
Arellano University, meanwhile, is at fourth with 3-4 while Jose Rizal University and San Sebastian College are at fifth with 2-5 records.
Each team has only two games left in the single-round eliminations, making the next few matches very crucial as it will decide the outcome of the Final Four picture.
The top two squads will earn twice-to-beat advantage in the next round that is tentatively set on 7 April. Should they lose to lower-ranked teams, the sudden death playoffs will be held on 9 April.
Against EAC, Perpetual flaunted its championship form as it dropped 30 points in the third quarter to turn a 10-point halftime deficit into a 20-point cushion entering the fourth quarter.
Team captain JD Pagulayan led the way with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and an assist while Jericho Cristino, Lebron Jhames Daep and Jan Roluna contributed double digits with 17, 17 and 15 markers, respectively.
Also seeing action is struggling Lyceum of the Philippines University, which battles San Beda at 10 a.m. while Mapua will tackle EAC at 2 p.m. and LSGH will slug it out against JRU in the main game at 4 p.m.