Blazers overwhelm Archers; Tigers win

St. Benilde and Santo Tomas kept their flickering hopes for the semifinal round of the UAAP-NCAA Final Showdown by fashioning out contrasting victories over La Salle and Jose Rizal yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The Blazers rode high on a mighty fourth-quarter splurge to wallop the Archers, 81-68, while the Tigers kept their poise in the face of searing endgame rally by the Heavy Bombers for a 106-102 decision.

Victories by both teams kept them in contention for the semis. But the Blazers and the Tigers have no control of their fates, they have to pray for help from teams today to gain semis passage.

It’s Philippine Christian U versus University of the East and Ateneo against San Sebastian at the close of the eliminations of the benefit games today also at the Rizal Coliseum.

St. Benilde salvages the last semis berth from the NCAA group in case PCU bows to UE. UST, meanwhile, grabs the last semis slot from the UAAP side in case UE and Ateneo lose by big margins to PCU and San Sebastian.

The Warriors have practically made it to the next round with three wins with a total winning margin of 52 points. The Eagles beat their first three rivals by 31 points while the Tigers closed out their elims campaign with a 3-1 win-loss card and a plus 14-point differential.

The Blazers ended up with a 1-3 slate and a minus 13-point differential, trailing the Dolphins who sport a 1-2 card and a minus 20-point differential.

St. Benilde, the NCAA runner-up, bounced back in the thick of the fight for the semis on an amazing fourth-quarter turnaround versus sister-school La Salle.

Down by nine, 48-57, early in the payoff period, the Blazers unraveled a torrid attack presided over by Al Magpayo, Ronald Capati and Jay Sagad as they jolted the Archers and stole the crucial game.

St. Benilde outscored La Salle, 33-7, in a seven-minute stretch from a 48-57 count – a vicious run that had the Blazers blazing to an 81-64 lead entering the final minute of the contest.

Magpayo, playing the take-charge role for St. Benilde with Sunday Salvacion opting to play in the PBL-CBF dual meet in Cebu, came up with a double-double outing with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Sagad and Capati added 18 and 16 points, respectively.

BJ Manalo, Joseph Yeo and Tyrone Tang paced the Archers with 37 points among themselves.