Altas, Bombers seek to bolster semis bid

MANILA, Philippines - Perpetual Help and Jose Rizal University shoot for crucial wins against separate ousted rivals today as they step up their respective semifinal drive in the 91st NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Altas hope to rebound from a stinging 60-62 defeat to the Bombers last week and keep their hold of solo third at 12-5 as they tangle with the San Sebastian Stags at 2 p.m.

The Bombers, on the other hand, seek to sustain their run as they battle the Lyceum Pirates in the 4 p.m. main game, hoping to nail another win and move up to solo fourth past the Arellano Chiefs and the Mapua Cardinals.

San Beda and Letran have zeroed in on the top two spots with identical 12-4 cards. But Perpetual Help is just a game behind and Arellano, JRU and Mapua tote identical 10-6 marks heading to the last two weeks of the double-round elims.

“We had our chances against JRU but failed to take advantage of the opportunity. Hopefully, we could do it against the Stags,” said Perpetual coach Aric del Rosario in Filipino.

SSC and Lyceum are out of the semis race with 5-11 and 4-12 cards, respectively.

Scottie Thompson, held to 12 points on an atrocious 4-of-15 shooting against the Bombers, is expected to bounce back strong and steer the Altas to the key win and at least a playoff for the last semifinal berth.

“I promised the team I’ll bounce back strong,” said Thompson, who, however, pulled down 11 rebounds and dished off six assists against JRU.

Like Perpetual, JRU is heavily favored to get past Lyceum for solo fourth and a half-game cushion against semis aspirants Mapua and Arellano heading to the homestretch of the elims.

“We consider all our remaining games as do-or-die,” said JRU coach Vergel Meneses.