UNIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta tries to sustain the momentum of its shock victory over erstwhile unbeaten Lyceum of the Philippines University as the Altas square off with cellar dwellers Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) seniors basketball tournament on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Drawing strength from Prince Eze and Edgar Charcos, the Altas pulled the rug from the highly touted Pirates, 83-81, on Friday to enhance their Final Four bid while preventing an eliminations sweep by dealing Lyceum its first loss after racking up 12 straight wins.
The 6-foot-9 Eze sank what could be the shot of the season after scoring on a putback off a misfired triple by teammate Tonton Peralta to lift the Las Piñas-based dribblers past the Pirates.
Charcos also played a key role in the upset as he scored four straight points that tied the game at 81 and eventually paved the way for that epic winner by his Nigerian teammate, who was named the NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week.
Eze finished with 25 points, 23 rebounds and two blocks in the win that also bolstered his Most Valuable Player bid against Lyceum’s CJ Perez.
In 12 games, Eze has averaged 19.2 points, second only to Perez’s league-leading 20.3 points, and 17.2 rebounds and four blocks, both league-highs.
“That was an MVP performance so I guess he made a case for the MVP award,” said Perpetual Help Coach Frankie Lim of Eze.
Charcos has also been delivering the goods for Perpetual Help which is riding a two-game streak.
The former University of the East player played two straight games since returning from a knee injury.
In the other game, Letran (8-4) tries to keep its grip of the No. 3 spot as it tangles with Emilio Aguinado College (2-10) at 2 p.m.