Blazers storm Chiefs, climb back to fourth

Games tomorrow (The Arena, San Juan)

12 noon – EAC vs San Beda (jrs/srs)

4 p.m. – San Sebastian vs Letran (srs/jrs)

MANILA, Philippines - St. Benilde outfoxed Arellano U in the second half and hammered out a 106-97 victory to jump back to fourth spot in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Outplayed in the first half, the Blazers unleashed a shooting frenzy in the second anchored on Juan Paolo Taha and team captain Mark Romero as they snatched a come-from-behind win, their ninth against five defeats.

Taha took charge in the third quarter when St. Benilde started to make its move before Romero stepped up in the final period to seal it.

Taha wound up with 27 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while Romero had 23 points, eight boards, four dimes and three steals.

“They’re the leaders of this team and they really want to get the victory,” said St. Benilde coach Gabby Velasco. “Their efforts today (yesterday) is a testament to their desire to really get this win.”

Taha, who is hoping to sign a contract with Kia Motors where teammate Romero was also drafted, said they couldn’t have done it without help from the bench including Jeffrey Ryan Ongteco and Raphael Romeo Nayve.

Ongteco dished out a career-best 19 points while Nayve scattered 13 to take some of the burden off Taha and Romero.

“This is not all about us, it’s about every player in this team doing his part,” said Taha.

The Blazers have also uncharacteristically outgunned and outshot the Chiefs from the free throw and three-point lines.

St. Benilde made 39 trips to the foul line and sank 27 as against Arellano U’s 13-of-17 clip there. The former also made half of its 22 attempts from the rainbow country while the latter clanked 16 of the 26 tries there.

“Arellano is the league’s highest scoring team and one of the biggest reasons was their three-point shooting. And in this game, we took and prevented some of their three-point shots,” said Velasco.

“We were also more aggressive in getting inside and drawing fouls,” he added.

It didn’t help Arellano U much that it missed the services of pesky guard Giovani Jalalon, who rested a sore knee he sustained in an 86-101 defeat at the hands of Perpetual Help.

Jalalon  averaged 14.17 points, 6.17 caroms, 6.25 dimes and 3.17 steals.

It was Arellano U’s second straight defeat and fourth overall against nine triumphs that sent it from solo No. 2 to a share of it with Jose Rizal.

Four-peat champion San Beda continued to lead the way with a 10-2 card.