NCAA Players of the Week: Borgie Hermida (San Beda) and Nate Matute (JRU)

San Beda’s Borgie Hermida and Nate Matute of Jose Rizal U stood out on a week when the top three teams kept their lofty positions in the 86th NCAA basketball tournament.

The 5-foot-8 Hermida, who is joining the PBA Draft Sunday, came through with a pair of solid all-around performances in the pacesetting Lions’ two wins, while Matute flashed his deadly stroke from beyond the arc to power the third-ranked Bombers to back-to-back victories.

For their efforts, Hermida and Matute were named Accel/Filoil NCAA Press Corps Co-Players of the Week presented by Gatorade and Terrilicious Meat Products.

Hermida posted 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the Lions streaked to their 10th straight victory by crushing Emilio Aguinaldo College, 92-68.

Hermida also had a solid outing in the 89-70 victory over St. Benilde last Monday, finishing with 9 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds.

“Borgie is a good player,” San Beda coach Frankie Lim said of his starting point guard. “He’s PBA material.”

Matute shared the spotlight with Hermida last week as he buried 10-of-17 triples in two games.

The Filipino-American guard from Las Vegas made 22 points, including 15 from beyond the arc, to spark the Bombers past the Letran Knights, 76-60.

Five days after his breakout game, Matute was at it again, hitting 15 points, all from beyond the arc, in the 66-55 pummeling of Perpetual Help.

“He’s getting a nice feel for the game,” said JRU coach Vergel Meneses. "He's getting more and more confident and I'm happy for him."