Bombers out to check skid; Blazers hope to stay in hunt

Jose Rizal tries to check an alarming skid against an equally slumping Philippine Christian University today, hoping to bounce back into the upper half of the standings even as St. Benilde goes for win No. 3 in its backdoor bid to gatecrash the Final Four party in the 79th NCAA basketball tournament at the Makati Coliseum.

Like the Bombers, the Dolphins are coming off back-to-back losses but it was the former which showed so much promise in the early going only to fall apart at the start of the second round of eliminations.

Still, Jose Rizal is fancied to get past PCU in their 4 p.m. encounter with a victory to give the Bombers the solo fourth spot they currently share with the rejuvenated San Sebastian Stags at 5-4. The Dolphins are tied with Perpetual Help at 3-6.

Meanwhile, St. Benilde clashes with Perpetual Help at 2 p.m. with the Blazers eyeing a third straight win after dropping all their games in the first round. A surprise runner-up to San Sebastian last year, St. Benilde downed Jose Rizal and PCU to keep its flickering Final Four hopes but coach Tonichi Yturri admits it would be tough to complete their comeback since they have yet to face the teams in the upper half of the standings.

"We know it’s going to be tough so our approach is to take it a game at a time," said Yturri.

Expect Yturri to rely anew on solid team play anchored on the power-playing frontline tandem of Al Magpayo and Ronald Capati, who will be challenging Perpetual Help’s vaunted big-men — Robert Lee Barnson, Marcel Cuenco and Vladimir Joe.

Joe, for one, has a coming out game last week when the Altas clobbered the Heavy Bombers, 79-69, for their third win in nine matches.