Baycats stake clean card vs Olympians

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion San Sebastian College-Cavite stakes its unbeaten record when it meets former champion STI College in the mian attraction of another heavy six-game bill in the 2009 NAASCU men’s basketball tournament at the UM gym in Manila.

The Baycats, who swept their first eight assignments, and the Olympians, who have won five of their seven games, take the floor at 11 a.m.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Edgar Macaraya-mentored Baycats defeated the Olympians, 2-1, in their best-of-three title showdown last year.

“We’ll do our best to beat them (Olympians) again and keep our winning streak,” said Macaraya, whose team needs only three more wins to complete a rare 11-game sweep of the elimination round.

But SSC-Cavite will have to do it against three other title contnders.

After STI, SSC-Cavite’s next remaining assignments will be against five-time champion University of Manila and surprise contender Informatics.

Both UM and Informatics are trailing closely behind with identical 7-1 win-loss slates.

The Hawks, who won their last seven assignments after an opening-day setback, and the Icons clash in the other featured encounter at 8 a.m.

In other matches, former champion AMA Computer University (4-4) tacklles New Era University (2-4) at 9:30 a.m., Our Lady of Fatima University (3-5) meets Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay (1-7) at 12:30 p.m., St. Clare College-Caloocan (2-6) faces University of Makati (0-8) at 2 p.m. and Lyceum of Subic Bay (4-3) battles Centro Escolar University at 3:30 p.m.

NAASCU president Dr. Ernesto Jay Adalem said the top eight teams after the single-round elimination will advance to the second phase of elimination.

The top four teams will then advance to the semifinal round, with the No. 1 team taking on the No. 4 squad and the No. 2 team meeting the No 3 squad.

The championship is a best-of-three games affair.

Tournament director is Benjie Diswe.