Altas gun for 2nd vs skidding Red Lions

Host Perpetual Help seeks to join defending champion Letran at second place as it takes on a skidding San Beda side today in the 80th NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Coliseum.

Drawing huge games from four of their starters, the Altas flattened the St. Benilde Blazers, 95-75, Wednesday and another victory in their 3 p.m. encounter with the Red Lions would put them alongside the idle Knights. Letran is currently at No. 2 spot with a 3-1 (win-loss) slate behind unbeaten Mapua (3-0).

Rookie Fritz Bauzon led the carnage with 25 points including 15 from behind the arc while Vladimir Joe, Dom Javier and Marcel Cuenco added 22, 18 and 17 markers, respectively, in the highest scoring match of the league thus far.

But Perpetual Help coach Arturo "Bai" Cristobal said the work is just starting for them.

"We’re happy where we are right now but the tournament is just starting and we need to work harder if we want to stay in this position," said Cristobal, who steered the Las Piñas-based school to a 2-0 start last season before losing eight of their next 12 games to drop out of the Final Four.

San Sebastian, on the other hand, shoots for win No. 2 when it clashes with winless St. Benilde at 1:15 p.m.

The Stags downed the PCU Dolphins, 74-65, Friday for their first win in three outings while the Blazers dropped all three of their games.

It will not be a walk in the park though for the Altas as the Red Lions are hoping to bounce back from a two-game skein. San Beda’s last loss came Wednesday when it bowed to Letran, 55-70.

After creating wonders in their first two games where it smashed last year’s second placer San Sebastian and Jose Rizal, San Beda’s pet motion offense suddenly turned flat as it couldn’t produce the same effectiveness that it brought to the team as before.

The Lions’ sudden skid could be credited to subpar efforts by their backcourt tandem of Ronnie Bughao and Alex Angeles and leader Arjun Cordero.

Bughao, a sophomore from Cebu, tend to be too individualistic by dribbling the ball too much and hastily taking jump shots while Angeles could not hit the triples as before.

Cordero, a Philippine Basketball League veteran who is on his last stop as Lion, could take charge when his team needed it most, leaving fellow five-year veteran Jeff Bombeo most of the responsibility.