Archers, Lions seek to seal Filoil title duel

La Salle and San Beda seek to hurdle their respective rivals and forge a clash of collegiate champs in the knockout semifinal round of the Filoil Flying V Premier Cup at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan today.

The UAAP champ Archers take on the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates at 3:15 p.m., seeking a victory and a fifth crack at the country’s premier pre-season crown.

The Red Lions, on the other hand, battle the Jose Rizal U Bombers at 5 p.m. with the reigning NCAA rulers gunning for a shot at a second Filoil title.

Drawing another huge game from Ben Mbala, the Archers routed the Far Eastern U Tams, 78-53, to set a semis duel with the Pirates, who turned back the San Sebastian Stags, 86-71, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Mbala, the UAAP MVP who steered the Archers to last season’s UAAP championship, bucked flu-like symptoms and shot 32 points and hauled down 19 rebounds to power La Salle past the Tams.

The 6-6 Cameroonian also dropped 45 points against the Letran Knights at the close of the elims last week.

But the Archers remain wary of the Pirates, who are in first Final Four stint in the 11-year-old tournament.

“LPU is a quick team and playing them is like a sprint race. We have to dictate the pace if we want to beat them,” said La Salle coach Aldin Ayo.

“We don’t have the size so we want to go to our main strength, which are speed and scoring,” said LPU mentor Topex Robinson.