COLLEGE of St. Benilde relied on its massive first half cushion as it weathered Jose Rizal University’s fourth quarter uprising in hammering out an 84-69 victory on Tuesday to keep it at the helm after the first round of NCAA Season 100 at the MOA Arena.
The Blazers roared to a mighty 53-27 lead late in the second period that they used to offset a contrastingly poor second half effort to preserve their seventh win against two losses, which assured them of the No. 1 seed entering the second and last round of elimination.
“We’re happy that we’re number 1, but obviously we would have wanted a bit more breathing room kasi dikit-dikit lahat ng team and definitely we want to get the twice-to-beat advantage in Final Four if we do make it,” said CSB coach Charles Tiu.
CSB’s win came with a setback after Tony Ynot, one of the team’s veteran and reliable scorers, suffered a left ankle injury in the opening quarter and should miss time.
Good thing several players stepped up, including Jhomel Ancheta, who paced his team with 17 points—his best game in a CSB uniform.
“Masaya nabawi namin talo namin,” said Ancheta, a 21-year-old San Mateo, Rizal native and rookie transferee from Centro Escolar U, referring to their 73-71 defeat to Arellano U Friday.
The Bombers drew a career 24-point game from skipper Joshua Guiab, but were undone with a disastrous first half performance where they got buried under the avalanche of the Blazers’ onslaught.
