Streaking Lyceum of the Philippines University will face a tough test against Colegio de San Juan de Letran while two teams look to step out of a dry spell on Sunday in the NCAA Season 98.
Lyceum, carrying a four-game winning streak, will take on defending champion Letran at 3 p.m. in a bid to join De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde atop the standings.
Before that, Arellano University will eye to end its two-game slump against a luckless Mapua University side in the opening salvo set at 12 p.m. at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
Lyceum head coach Gilbert Malabanan is expecting the Knights to go all out in their encounter, especially with the defending champions coming off a loss to rival San Beda University last Friday.
Letran, though, will still have a manpower shortage as Louie Sangalang and Brent Paraiso were slapped with another one-game suspension each after already serving one in the previous game.
But the Pirates are tipped to keep the same winning mentality regardless of the other team's mishaps.
"There's no break for us kasi it's Letran eh and you know naman Letran is gonna fight until the end so kailangan naming paghandaan 'yon. Number one, talagang I trust my players with all my heart whatever happens," Malabanan said.
"We don't look at the standings. Tulad nito, 1-4 kami and we're looking for more wins pa."
Meanwhile, both Arellano and Mapua will look to end their respective dry spells.
The Chiefs have lost their last two assignments after back-to-back wins to drop to an even 3-3 slate, but they will shoot to recover against the Cardinals, who have been out of luck so far in the season.
Mapua hit a new snag on Saturday when the NCAA management committee ruled that its 66-55 win over San Beda University on opening day last September 10 as a forfeit, which dropped them to a 0-6 hole.
Prior to that decision, the Cardinals had lost five times in a row, falling to Lyceum, San Sebastian, Perpetual, Letran, and Jose Rizal University to go 1-5.
—JMB, GMA News
