Altas stay in the hunt; Blazers thwart Chiefs

MANILA, Philippines - Perpetual Help played spoiler’s role to the hilt while breathing some life to its flickering Final Four hopes as it stunned Lyceum, 78-73, even as St. Benilde turned back Arellano U, 66-64, to boost its stock in the 87th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

Harold Arboleda came off the bench to pour in nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as he helped the Altas nail their third win in 13 outings and remain in the hunt for a Final Four berth if they could sweep their last five games.

“The key in this game is that the players are starting to believe in themselves that we could compete,” said Perpetual coach Jimwell Gican in Filipino.

The Pirates, who were led by Chris Cayabyab’s game-high 19 points but saw top center Allan Santos play just four minutes because of injury, fell in at joint fifth with the St. Benilde Blazers on 5-7 (win-loss) slates, or a full game behind No. 4 Mapua’s Cardinals with a 6-6 record.

St. Benilde made that leap following its win over a stubborn Arellano U squad despite nearly blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Juan Taha paced the Blazers with 13 points while Jonathan Grey and Anton Altamirano chipped in 10 points apiece including some clutch moments in the final canto.

Grey, a rookie guard, dunked over a taller Kim Pagayunan to cap run that saw the Blazers erect a 62-48 lead early in the final period before the Chiefs unloaded a 10-0 blitz highlighted by a basket by Ronnel del Rosario to trim it down to 68-62, with a minute and 45 seconds to go.

Altamirano, for his part, made two foul shots out of four attempts in the stretch to help put away Arellano, which relied on two booming triples by Vergel Zulueta to stay in the game but he couldn’t convert on a potential game-winning triple in the dying seconds.

The Chiefs, who were paced by Zulueta’s 19 points and Adrian Celada’s 17 points, fell to their ninth defeat against four triumphs.

The win could be Richard del Rosario’s last game as mentor of St. Benilde as he is reportedly taking over the coaching reins from Jorge Gallent at B-Meg.

“We’ll know everything in a day or two, in the meantime I’m happy we won again after two heartbreaking losses,” said Del Rosario.