Blazers continue to catch fire, nip Pirates

MANILA, Philippines – In the last two weeks, St. Benilde has turned from the league's heartbreak team to breaking their foes' hearts.

Sustaining its red-hot shooting, the Blazers steamrolled the Lyceum Pirates, 86-77, to extend their amazing run to four and barge into the magic four for the first time this year in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Saturday.

Juan Paolo Taha made all of his seven shots from the field, including a 3-pointer and added six free throws to lead all scorers and the Blazers to jump into joint fourth with the Jose Rizal Bombers on identical 4-3 (win-loss) slates.

St. Benilde skipper Mark Romero came through with another all-around effort with 14 points, five assists, three rebounds, three blocks and two steals to help in the cause for a team that is out to make it to the Final Four for the first time since it went all the way 14 seasons ago.

It was another superb scoring effort by the Blazers, who have breached the 80-point mark for the third time in the last four outings while averaging an impressive 83.25 points in those four straight victories.

"I  think we're playing inspired basketball and we're starting to enjoy every game we play even the practices," said St. Benilde coach Gabby Velasco.

Slowly, the Blazers have earned the tag as a serious contender after earning reputation last year as the league's heartbreak kids for losing close games majority of their games last year.

Velasco though thinks they still have room for improvement after nearly blowing a lead that once stood as high as 22 points.

"We're doing great but I must admit there was a portion in the fourth quarter that we played complacent," he said.

The Pirates fell to their second straight defeat and fourth overall in as many setbacks and into sixth spot after lingering inside the top four for a while.

Earlier, La Salle-Greenhills slammed Lyceum, 71-52, in the juniors side.

The Scores:

First Game (jrs)

CSB (71) – Dela Cruz 17, San Juan 17, Gob 14, Madrigal 13, Velasco 4, Herrera 2, Pagulayan 2, Ollano 2, Bunyi 0, Salonga 0, Alcala 0.

LPU (52) – Santos 17, Jungco 10, Menil 10, Cecilio 5, Bautista 4, Pere 2, Wong 2, Tropicales 2, Lagman 0, Castaneda 0, Agdon Jassen 0, Agdon Jastin 0, Glipo 0, Guadana 0.

Quarters: 16-10, 31-22, 51-34, 71-52.

Second Game (srs)

CSB (86) – Taha 21, Romero 14, Bartolo 13, Nayve 10, Grey 10, Sinco 6, Saavedra 5, Ongteco 5, Jonson 2, Argamino 0, Altamirano 0.

LPU (77) – Gabayni 12, Mbbida 12, Zamora 11, Baltazar 10, Ko 8, Bulawan 7, Malabanan 6, Elmejrab 6, Taladua 5, Pamulaklakin 0, Soliman 0.

Quarters: 18-25, 42-34, 69-49, 86-77.