With the La Salle Archers seizing second place with a decisive win over the Warriors last Sunday that forced a three-way tie at 10-4 win-loss slates, the Eagles and the Warriors clash at 4 p.m. with the winner taking on the Archers and the loser going up against the FEU Tamaraws in the semfinals.
Both the Tamaraws, who topped the league with 12 wins against two losses, and the Archers, which gained the No. 2 spot outright after emerging with the highest quotient, would need only one victory to advance to the best-of-three finals.
Ateneo is tipped to beat UE after the Eagles swept their elimination round matches, the first a 65-63 victory last Aug. 4 and the other a 75-69 win last Aug. 27.
But Ateneo coach Norman Black is wary of the pressures of a playoff with the Eagles coming off a 55-72 defeat at the hands of the Archers last week.
"It’s going to be tough, there’s no question about it," said the 1989 San Miguel grand slam coach. "It’s good going into the game knowing we’ve beaten them but we have to play a lot better than we did (against La Salle) to beat UE."
JC Intal is expected to lead the attack again after averaging 15 points in the Eagles’ twin triumphs over the Warriors.
UE, on the other hand, may be without the prolific Marcy Arellano, who was down with dengue fever. The 2004 rookie of the year, who averaged 11 points, didn’t see action in his team’s 67-79 loss to La Salle Sunday.
But UE mentor Dindo Pumaren remains unfazed.
"We’ll be going for the third spot, we finished fourth last year and we hope to improve on that finish," said Pumaren, adding the Warriors must unleash a strong start against the Eagles. "In our two losses against Ateneo, we didn’t start that well," he said.