Old Rivals Collide In Filoil Tourney

The reigning UAAP and NCAA champions clash on Saturday for a share of the early Group A lead, as Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda College put their 2-0 records on the line in the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup at The Arena in San Juan City.

The 5:15 p.m. tiff is expected to be tightly contested, with the Red Lions looking for some measure of revenge. In last year's edition of the tournament, the Blue Eagles defeated the Red Lions in the very first game, with Kiefer Ravena and Greg Slaughter making their televised debuts wearing the Blue and White, 90-87.

Fittingly enough, the two teams then closed out the tournament by meeting again in the Finals, with Ateneo running away in the winner-take-all battle, 75-56, a feat that gave the Blue Eagles their first FilOil tourney title.

So far, however, the Ateneo offense has yet to click in the two games they've played, shooting just 39 percent from the field, and their high-powered offense has generated just 58.5 points over two games. 

San Beda, by contrast, looks like a well-oiled machine despite a coaching change from Frankie Lim to Ronnie Magsanoc. The Red Lions are putting up just a shade under 70 points, on 43 percent field goal shooting, with 24 coming off fast breaks and turnovers. 

Expect to see a battle for supremacy down low between Blue Eagle Greg Slaughter (13.5 points, 14 rebounds, 2.5 blocks) and Red Lion Ola Adeogun (10.5 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block), while Kiefer Ravena (11.5 points) gets into a scoring duel with Julius Armon (11.0 points). 

source: JVP, GMA News