The defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles are expected to miss the Nieto twins for a fourth straight game.
But their absence won’t be an excuse for the Blue Eagles when they clash with the National University Bulldogs at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the 81st University Athletic Association of the Philippines at the Araneta Coliseum.
They are expected to stretch their winning run after upending the University of the East Red Warriors, 90-70, last Saturday for their eighth win of the season.
The Blue Eagles now have an 8-2 win-loss record in the standings for the solo lead.
The Nieto twins, Matt and Mike are out because of dengue. As a result, the Eagles will keep on counting on Tyler Tio to take over.
Against UE, Tio came up with a career-high 16 points, which was an improvement of the 14 points he scored when Ateneo came away with a 92-71 win over University of the Philippines.
“Good thing we had a good cushion. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we are generally happy with the win,” said Blue Eagles’ coach Sandy Arespacochaga.
Later, the La Salle Green Archers seek to bounce back from their 50-57 loss to the Adamson Falcons in their 4 p.m. match with the Far Eastern University Tamaraws,
The Falcons are now in second at 7-2, while the Green Archers are in third (5-4), followed by FEU (5-5).