Oro cager sees Final Four appearance for Benilde

MANILA -- After years of ending up in the bottom half of the NCAA basketball tournament, College of St. Benilde started to make its presence felt by mounting a fourth quarter rally to outlast Lyceum of the Philippines, 70-61, on Monday.

Asked if the win will dictate the team’s long-coveted march to the semifinals sometime in October, sweet-shooting guard Carlo Lastimosa, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, wanted to make sure his team won’t miss the chance.

Benilde, which won its first title in 2000, failed to enter the Final Four for the 10th consecutive time last year.

“Of course, that has always been the goal for me and my teammates. But as usual, we want to make it one game at a time,” he told Sun.Star.

Now on his third year with the Blazers, Lastimosa has always been the go-to guy, stepping up especially in the final minutes of the contest to salvage his team as possible.

His coach Richard del Rosario only had praises for his prized lieutenant as he also credited other players for keeping the Pirates at bay.

“The team is not just about me. We won because of collective effort and I only take charge if they needed me most,” the 21-year-old Lastimosa said.

Lastimosa, the tournament’s top rookie in 2010, is currently taking up Hotel and Restaurant Management in Benilde, a sister school of De La Salle University. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)