MANILA -- College of St. Benilde remained in the thick of things after an 83-64 drubbing of sliding Emilio Aguinaldo College in the 86th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Monday afternoon at the Arena in San Juan City.
Unlike in the past outings where everyone is virtually dependent on the performance of Cagayan de Oro recruit Carlo Lastimosa, the Taft-based dribblers leaned on its deep bench to spark a fourth quarter rally that sent their opponents to a standstill.
The Blazers blasted the Generals by outscoring them 31 to 16 in the payoff period to seize control of the game that saw seven deadlocks and three lead changes.
Coach Richard del Rosario credited his team’s better ball rotation as the Blazers drew 54 points from the bench as compared to the Generals’ 39 en route to the school’s third victory in eleven starts.
“This is a good game for us because we have never beaten EAC since they entered the league last year. We tried to get others involved and we had a balanced scoring this time. We know that the defense is concentrated on Carlo and allowed others to put score as well,” he told reporters.
Luis Sinco topscored for St. Benilde with 21 points, five rebounds and an assist while Lastimosa added 19 markers and three rebounds in 29 minutes of play.
The Generals of coach Nomar Isla skidded to eighth place with a 2-9 (win-loss) slate. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)