NCAA S87: CSJL vs EAC

History Lesson: 
With their backcourt being held in check by their younger EAC counterparts, Letran turned to their three-headed frontcourt beast, and the big men responded in kind. Raymond Almazan, Jam Cortes and Jonathan Belorio dominated the interior to the tune of 43 points and 38 rebounds. Still, the Generals were able to threaten late, cutting a 66-52 lead to just six points with 1:21 left, but that would be their last gasp, as the Knights scored twice to seal the win, 76-67. (Recap here)

What's at Stake:

• At 11-2, the Knights are a half game ahead of the San Beda Red Lions, a place they want to be, because of the twice-to-beat advantage that is attached to the second seed. With the defending champions also playing on this day in the second game, Letran will want to keep up their pace, especially should the Lions collapse for a second straight time. 
• The 4-10 EAC Generals are still mathematically in the hunt for the fourth playoff seed, but that would require some mindblowing collapse from everyone ahead of them, making that highly unlikely. Instead, EAC may want to start trying to figure out their crowded backcourt and see if Claude Cubo can come close to replicating his 29-point game or even something close to that, on a regular basis.

CSJL Stat to Watch : Letran leads the league in 2-point attempts (54.77) owing to their league best 23.86 offensive rebounds, and luckily for them, they'll be playing EAC, the team that currently gives up the most points (81.21 a game) and also the most 2-point attempts (51.79). San Beda has already broken the century mark against this team twice, so it's certainly not out of the question that the Knights accomplish that feat. 

CSJL Player to Watch : Can Jam Cortes repeat history and come up with another monster performance, like his 18-20 outing in the first round? If Lyceum's Mark Francisco can put up huge numbers, then this ought to be a breeze for Cortes.

EAC Stat to Watch : At the risk of paraphrasing myself, I'll simply say that EAC is the worst rebounding team defensively, giving up 48.21 boards a game, while Letran is the second best rebounding team, at 50.23 per outing. Again, this cannot end well.

EAC Player to Watch : On the opposite end of the spectrum is Claude Cubo, and his 29 points, nine rebound outing versus the tiny Lyceum. Can he repeat versus the long arms of Raymond Almazan? Unlikely, but he needs to try to bring some balance to their offense.

Prediction: Letran Knights