By REYNALD MAGALLON
Jielo Razon came through with timely baskets and helped University of Perpetual Help beat College of St. Benilde, 76-64, and claim the last semis ticket in the NCAA Season 97 play-in round on Wednesday at the San Juan Arena.
The Altas hardly missed the absence of do-it-all Kim Aurin as almost everybody stepped up – Razon and John Abis in particular – for the win – their fourth straight – that clinched for themselves the No. 4 seed.
It was a total team effort for the Altas who were without Aurin due to chickenpox with five players scoring in twin digits, setting the tone for the wire-to-wire victory and a semifinal dance against the top-seed and unbeaten Letran Knights.
Clashing in the other semis duel are No. 2 Mapua and No. 3 San Beda.
Abis led Perpetual with 14 points while Razon, finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Jeff Egan and Cris Pagaran contributed 13 points each while JP Boral added 11, 10 of those in the first half when Perpetual built a comfortable lead which it never relinquished until the final buzzer.
Altas head coach Myk Saguiguit lauded his wards for sticking to their system during the do-or-die match especially that they are missing the services of their main gun in Kim Aurin who is averaging 14.44 points, 5.22 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in the eliminations.
“Ang nakakatuwa lang kanina they embraced the system kumbaga kung ano yung pinag usapan namin kung ano yung ginawa namin sa practice, iyon talaga yung lumabas so natutuwa ako sa mga bata kasi gusto talaga nilang Manalo kaya sumurrender sila lahat,” said Saguiguit.
The Altas rode a blistering second quarter where they unleashed a back-breaking 11-0 run that turned a 25-23 affair to a 36-23 lead. CSB tried to mount a comeback in the second half behind the efforts from JC Cullar but was not enough as it couldn’t break the nine-digit barrier Perpetual had put up.
Cullar paced the Blazers with 18 points while Will Gozum added 13 markers. CSB finished at the fourth seed of the standings with a 5-4 record but lost two consecutive games in the play-in – first against San Beda, 63-57, shattering its hopes to end a 20-year Final Four drought this season.
The scores:
PERPETUAL 76 ˗ Abis 14, Razon 13, Egan 13, Pagaran 12, Boral 11, Omega 6, Martel 4, Cuevas 2, Sevilla 1, Barcuma 0.
CSB 64 ˗ Cullar 18, Gozum 13, Flores 10, Nayve 8, Corteza 8, Lim 4, Lepalam 2, Marcos 1, Carlos 0, Sangco 0, Publico 0, Davis 0, Mosqueda 0. Quarterscores: 21-14, 40-32, 59-47, 76-64.