Blazers preserve lead this time, repulse Chiefs

MANILA, Philippines - All of a sudden, St. Benilde is on a roll.

From blowing leads in their first five games, the Blazers have learned to protect them as they showed endgame composure in trouncing the Arellano U Chiefs, 69-62, to snare their second straight victory in the 89th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Monday.

Mark Romero paced his team with 18 points, including a booming triple in the stretch that helped the Blazers fend off the Chiefs' fightback and book the former their second win that catapulted them from ninth spot, or second to last, to a share of sixth spot with Arellano U, Lyceum and Emilio Aguinaldo.

St. Benilde's other win came at the expense of Lyceum, a 75-69 squeaker last July 25, or just before the league took a break to give way for the 27th FIBA Asia Championship.

It was a win that the Blazers needed to end a dry spell.

Previous to the streak, the Taft-based dribblers lost what could have been won games to reigning three-peat champion San Beda, EAC, Jose Rizal, Letran and San Sebastian.

So close and painful were those losses that the Blazers' average losing margin was 1.4 points per game.

It's all water under the bridge now.

“We’re happy to get the back-to-back win, and after five straight losses," said St. Benilde coach Gabby Velasco.

Velasco said the team dedicates the win to the school's athletic moderator Santiago Alvarez, who passed away last Aug. 2.

"We felt his presence, in one shot of Paolo (Taha) and a three -pointer of Romero,” he said.

California native Jose Alfonso Saavedra, Juan Taha and Jonathan Grey provided Romero the scoring relief and scattered 12 points apiece.

Prince Caperal led the Chiefs with 20 points but it wasn't enough to save them from absorbing their third straight defeat and fifth overall against two wins.

It also spoiled the debut of Fil-Canadian Adam Jacob Serjue after spending last season and the team's first six games healing from a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) he sustained in a pre-season of 2012.

The scores:

CSB (69) -- Romero 18, Saavedra 12, Taha 12, Grey 12, Ongteco 4, Argamino 4, Sinco 3, Bartolo 2, Garcia 2, Deles 0.

Arellano U (62) -- Caperal 20, Forrester 10, Serjue 7, Pinto 6, Salcedo 4, Jalalon 4, Agovida 4, Enriquez 3, Nicholls 2, Hernandez 2, Gumaru 0, Bangga 0, Cadavis 0.

Quarterscores: 18-17, 35-28, 49-45, 69-62.