COLLEGE of Saint Benilde puts its perfect run on the line against defending champion Letran Friday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
The Blazers and Knights collide at 12 noon.
Letran hopes to bring back its winning form right away after absorbing a 69-72 loss to Arellano University last Sunday that ended its 14-game winning streak,.
“I thinks it’s been two to three years that the boys haven’t lost a game … I don’t know. I hope we can give them a losing streak,” Benilde coach Charles Tiu said. “They are tough, they always play physical and they’re the defending champs for a reason so it’s going to be a hard game.”
Tiu is looking forward to his Blazers improving every game.
Benilde won all its matches by an average of 13.33 points in the eliminations, thanks to the heads up plays of Will Gozum, one of the league’s scoring leaders with 17 points per game, as well as main gunners Migs Oczon and Miggy Corteza.
“It’s only three games, we have a long way to go,” Tiu said. “We still haven’t played Letran, Mapua and San Beda—three teams I say consistently would be in the Final Four so it’s still a long way to go for us.”
“But at least we’re playing better,” Tiu added.
The 1-1 Knights are opening a tough stretch that will test their character.
After playing Benilde, Letran will take on Mapua in a rematch of last season’s Finals on Tuesday, and bitter rival San Beda on Friday.
Mapua and University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, sporting identical 1-2 records, play at 3 p.m.