Stags shoot for 7th win, share of lead

MANILA, Philippines - San Sebastian College shoots for its seventh straight win and a share of the lead with idle San Beda as the Stags take on Arellano University today in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The Stags hit the Arena court at 11:45 a.m. against the slumping Chiefs, all the while looking to improve on their sharpness in preparation for their remaining assignments against contenders Mapua and San Beda later on.

“We just have to make use of this opportunity to make us sharper in our coming games,” said San Sebastian coach Topex Robinson, whose crew is slated to battle the Cardinals on Wednesday before mixing it up with titlist San Beda on Aug. 19.

Robinson is expected to unleash his Big 3 – Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang, and Ronald Pascual – against the Chiefs, who are currently down with a four-game skein.

Together, Abueva, Sangalang and Pascual are good for an average of 57.3 points and 24.9 rebounds this season.

The Chiefs (1-5) will bank on Vergel Zulueta (17.3 ppg, 4 rpg), Rocky Acidre (15.2 ppg) and Andrian Celada (13.3 ppg) to pull off the upset against the 2009 champs.

Emilio Aguinaldo College (2-4) collides with University of Perpetual Help Altas (1-5) at 4 p.m.

The Generals are on a skid, averaging a losing margin of 21.6 points in their last three setbacks. But in their 70-77 loss to the Stags last Aug. 3, they trailed by 21 points but managed to chip away the deficit to a single digit in the second half.