IT seems like St. Benilde has left its late game struggles behind in the previous season.
The Blazers once again buckled down late in the game and fended off a determined JRU Heavy Bombers side, 73-65, to claim their third straight win in Group B of the NCAA Season 101 on Sunday at the Playtime Filoil Center.
Leading by just two with 2:37 remaining, the Blazers ended the game on a 10-2 run to finally break free from an upset-conscious Heavy Bombers side who’ve certainly proved deadly when given the chance late in the game.
The win improved the Blazers to 3-1 for the tournament while the Heavy Bombers fell to 2-2.
“We give them [the boys] credit, they made plays. Both those games I didn’t need to call a timeout at all in the fourth quarter and that’s something we worked on a lot in the offseason, we wanted to let these guys be able figure it out by themselves and they did,” CSB coach Charles Tiu said afte another steady performance from his boys in the clutch.
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“Raffy made plays, his cuts were great, his defensive stops were huge. That’s really what got us over the hump I think it became a bit of a defensive game and thankfully we’re a bit bigger than them today, and a bit more talented and of course wala rin si Argente in the end game so that helped us also,” he added.
“For us we want to have the mindset na no excuses, kahit wala yung mga key guys, we just have to find a way to step up and I thought they were excellent today. We made plays when it matters, it was scary but we made plays.”
Celis jumpstarted that late rally for the Blazers — with his steal on Sanlea Penaverde resulting in a crucial basket on the other end to give Benilde a 69-63 lead with 1:38 left – basically taking the fight away from the Heavy Bombers.
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The transferee out of Ateneo finished with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting while adding five rebounds and four steals for the Blazers who were still without reigning MVP Allen Liwag who’s out with a dengue fever.
Justine Sanchez continued his steady play for Benilde, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along six boards and five assists.
It was a sorry loss for the Heavy Bombers who, up until the final three minutes of the game, looked poised for yet anotheer upset after taking down the San Beda Red Lions in their last outing.
Rookies Sean Salvador and Sanlea Penaverde led the way for the Heavy Bombers with 13 and 11 respectively with their veteran guard in Sean Argente getting ejected in the 3:22 mark of the third quarter for getting his second technical foul for taunting.
Ivan Panapaan grabbed 13 boards, dished out five assists and had two blocks in a yeoman’s job for the Heavy Bombers who dropped to 2-2.
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The scores:
CSB 73 – Celis 20, Sanchez 17, Morales 7, Ancheta 5, Umali 5, Moore 5, Oli 5, Gaspay 3, Eusebio 2, Cajucom 2, Ynot 1, Galas 1, Jalalon 0
JRU 65 РSalvador 13, Pe̱averde 11, Argente 9, Lozano 9, Benitez 7, Panapanaan 5, Laurenaria 5, Garupil 4, Herrera 2, Duque 0, Castillo 0, Sarmiento 0
Quarters: 22-19, 42-34, 55-51, 73-65
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