The champs are here. After some early struggles, defending champions Colegio de San Juan de Letran is finally back on top of the standings after winning their head-to-head battle with the previous league-leader, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. See how the rest of the field shaped up after a crucial Week 8.
1 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights | Record: 11-3 (Week 8 record: 1-0) | Last week: 1st
Letran has taken over the #1 spot in the Season 98 standings, riding high on an eight-game winning streak. They also picked up a crucial win this week with a 74-66 victory over Benilde, which allowed them to overtake the Blazers in the standings and sweep their season series as well.
Louie Sangalang has been turning in monster performances, following up his 12-point, 18-rebound game vs LPU with a 21-point, nine-rebound effort against Benilde. But really, it’s been a team effort for the Knights in this hot run they’re on with guys like Brent Paraiso, Kurt Reyson, King Caralipio, and other all capable of leading the team on any given night.
The defending champs are back on top, and they’re not giving up the crown without a fight.
2 San Beda University Red Lions | Record: 9-4 (Week 8 record: 2-0) | Last week: 5th
San Beda’s climb up the ranking has been boosted by some big performances from JB Bahio, who averaged 10.5 points and 15 boards in two games to earn the Collegiate Press Corps Player of the Week honors this week. With guys like Damie Cuntapay and Tony Ynot showing up for some big games here and there, the Red Lions have been able to ease the load somewhat off of James Kwekuteye, who is still #3 in the NCAA in scoring.
With victories over Arellano and San Sebastian, that’s three games in a row for the 9-4 Red Lions, who are now breathing down the necks of the Blazers (9-3) with the final stretch of elimination round games coming up soon.
3 De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Blazers | Record: 9-3 (Week 8 record: 0-1) | Last week: 2nd
Benilde has been terrific all season long, but has not been able to solve the Letran puzzle, with two of their three losses this season coming against the Knights. With NCAA MVP candidate Will Gozum (17.83 ppg, 9.67 rpg and 1.17 bpg) continuing to anchor the team, they remain very capable of achieving big things this season.
But the road to the championship likely leads through Letran, and that’s something the Blazers will need to figure out if they are to pose a legitimate challenge for the title.
4 Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates | Record: 9-5 (Week 8 record: 1-0) | Last week: 3rd
Lyceum was able to shake off a small slump of back-to-back losses with an 86-82 conquest of Perpetual this week thanks to some early heroics from Ato Barba, who scored 20 points in the game.
The Pirates remain a strong contender, despite the small hiccup, as the clinched their ninth victory of the season, sitting even on wins with Benilde and San Beda. There’s plenty of season left to play, but they’re in a good position right now with the inside track on one of the top four spots.
5 Mapua University Cardinals | Record: 5-9 (Week 8 record: 1-0) | Last week: 7th
Mapua has done an incredible job following their early struggles, with the team picking up a fifth win in the last six games. It was a quality win, too, beating what was a Final Four hopeful in JRU by 25 points, 74-49.
The Cardinals may have proven that the early struggles were more of an outlier and this team is more who they are. But it remains a huge task to get back in the Final Four race, and they’ll have to continue to look at things one game at time.
6 Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers | Record: 6-6 (Week 8 record: 1-2) | Last week: 4th
JRU will finally pick up their first win since their 5-game streak ended prior to their lengthy break due to health and safety protocols. Agem Miranda’s buzzer-beater to put EAC away had to have been the high point for the Heavy Bombers in the past few weeks.
But from a big picture perspective, there’s plenty of cause for concern as JRU continues to trend downward, losing four of their last five games. They’re not out of it yet – far from it – but they need to come up with some big-time performances in the coming weeks if they are to give themselves a chance.
7 San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags | Record: 5-7 (Week 8 record: 1-1) | Last week: 9th
It was a positive week for San Sebastian as it pulled off a big win over Arellano, and hung tough in an overtime loss to San Beda.
They’re also getting production from all over the roster with guys like Kenneth Villapando and Alex Desoyo leading the charge against the Chiefs, and Rhinwill Yambing and Romel Calahat stepping up against the Red Lions.
They’re in the thick of the fight in the middle of the standings, and these recent results should give them hope they can move up if they can continue their recent play.
8 Arellano University Chiefs | Record: 6-8 (Week 8 record: 1-2) | Last week: 8th
Despite some injuries hampering the team, Arellano was able to earn a crucial win this week. Even without Shane Menina and NCAA rebounds leader Cade Flores, the Chiefs showed they have plenty of fight as they defeated JRU.
Arellano has fallen behind in the Final Four race somewhat, but it’s far from over. The injuries have allowed for guys like Travis Mantua and Danielle Mallari to get some much-needed playing time, and it would be interesting to see if this experience will pay off for the Chiefs in the long run.
9 University of Perpetual Help System DALTA ALTAs | Record: 5-8 (Week 8 record: 0-1) | Last week: 6th
Perpetual seemed to be primed to go on a tear after an overtime triumph over San Beda, but back-to-back losses to Mapua and, this week, to Lyceum has put a damper on things.
Carlo Ferreras has emerged in their last few games, averaging 18.3 points per game in their last three assignments, and that should give them some hope. But it hasn’t been enough, and the ALTAs need to dig deeper if they want to battle their way back.
10 Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals | Record: 1-13 (Week 6 record: 0-2) | Last week: 10th
Another heartbreaker of a week for EAC. They came as close as they have gotten to notching their second win of the season, but a buzzer-beating game-winner by Agem Miranda ended their hopes against the Heavy Bombers.
This one will hurt, but they need to shake it off and focus on the next one.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
