ACTION in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 93 men’s basketball resumes today with league-leaders Lyceum Pirates and San Beda Red Lions kicking off festivities in the second round of the country’s longest-standing collegiate against separate opponents.
Happening at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City, the Pirates (9-0) collide with the bottom-scraping Mapua Cardinals (1-8) at 4 p.m. while the Lions (8-1) face off with the College of St. Benide Blazers (2-7) in the preceding 2 p.m. game.
Undeniably the best season it has had so far since joining the league in 2011, Lyceum solidified its standing as a legitimate contender in the ongoing NCAA season by sweeping the first round of the eliminations.
The Pirates have been doing it with a thorough attack on both ends of the court led by league most valuable player candidates Mike Harry Nzeusseu and CJ Perez and under the steady stewardship of head coach Topex Robinson.
The sweep came for Lyceum over Mapua, its opponent today, whom the Pirates defeated, 97-74, on Aug. 25 to notch their ninth win in as many games.
Nzeusseu was at the fore of the victory, doing it all with 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Seven other players scored six points or more for the Pirates to highlight further the balanced attack it had.
While happy and proud of what they have accomplished to date, Mr. Robinson said the work does not stop for them and that they have to improve some more in second-round play if they are to achieve their goals.
“I’m happy with this win as it showed it’s always about team effort and success for us. We have swept the first round but it’s still a long season and we cannot relax and instead have to double our effort,” the Lyceum coach said following their sweep-clinching victory.
Out to stop the Pirates are the Cardinals who are having it tough this season, losing their last seven games.
With some players deciding to redshirt this season, notably two-time NCAA MVP Allwell Oraeme, coupled with an injury to key player Andoy Estrella, the Atoy Co-coached Cardinals just could not take flight this year.
Christian Buñag has been playing solid of late but apart from him Mapua has been hard-pressed to get steady contributions from the rest of the team.
LIONS ROAR
Like Lyceum, defending champion San Beda hopes to continue to roar in the resumption of regular wars to stay close with the Pirates and possibly overtake them along the way.
Tripped early in their campaign, the Lions have done a good job bouncing back and once again in their defending champions selves.
Robert Bolick and Jayvee Mocon have been leading San Beda well with the former good for 13.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists (league-high), and Mocon do-it-all with norms of 12 points, 9.9 boards and 3.6 dimes.
Also doing their share for San Beda are Davon Potts and Donald Tankoua.
San Beda opponent St. Benilde, for its part, has been showing flashes of form but remains a work in progress under coach TY Tang, leaving the Blazers still grappling in the bottom half of the standings.
Meanwhile, the NCAA recently released the numbers for the MVP race with Perpetual Help’s Prince Eze leading.
Eze, awarded the NCAA All-Star MVP last Friday, has amassed a leading 52.44 Player All-Around Value (PAV) points on the strength of a league-best 17.2 rebounds, 14.8 points (seventh) and 2.2 blocks in nine games for the Altas (3-6).
Nzeusseu and Perez of Lyceum and San Beda’s Mocon are at second, third and fourth places with 48.67, 47.56 and 47.56 PAVs, respectively, while Emilio Aguinaldo College’s Sydney Onwubere is at no. 5 with 47.11 PAV.
Rounding up the top 10 were San Beda’s Bolick (46.11), Letran’s Rey Nambatac (45.44), Mapua’s Buñag (41.78), Lyceum’s Jaycee Marcelino (40.11) and MJ Ayaay (39.67), and Jose Rizal University’s AbdulWahab AbdulRazak (39.67). — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
