By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
College of St. Benilde showed it has finally recovered from a recent heartbreak as it hammered down Lyceum, 103-78, to stay at the helm in NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Friday, Sept. 27.
Coming off a 71-69 upset loss to the Letran Knights that snapped their four-game winning run, the Blazers asserted their might throughout to improve their win-loss tally at 5-1 atop the leaderboard.
St. Benilde also halted Lyceum’s three-game winning streak, while becoming the first team to breach the 100-point mark this season.
Allen Liwag displayed another all-around performance by pumping in 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as St. Benilde controlled the game with its impressive offense where they shot 39-of-62 from the field for a 62.9 percent clip.
“After nung talo namin, inisip lang din namin yung mga naging pagkukulang namin dun, tapos go hard na kaagad pagbalik ng ensayo,” said Liwag, who also had one blocked shot in 29 minutes of action.
Though playing without starting point guard Jhomel Ancheta, who was serving a one-game suspension for hitting the back of the head of Letran big man Pao Javillonar, the Blazers immediately responded to the challenge as they overpowered the Pirates as early as the opening frame with a 32-22 lead and never looked back.
Mclaude Guadana tried to douse the Blazers’ fire by unloading 26 points, even as Gyle Montano and John Barba had 14 and 12 points, respectively, but it was not enough as the Pirates sank to 3-3.
The scores:
ST. BENILDE 103 – Liwag 22, Sanchez 18, Morales 10, Torres 9, Cometa 9, Sangco 8, Eusebio 7, Galas 7, Ondoa 4, Ynot 3, Cajucom 3, Serrano 3, Carillo 0, Turco 0, Oli 0.
LYCEUM 78 – Guadaña 26, Montaño 14, Barba 12, Villegas 6, Peñafiel 4, Culanay 4, Paulo 4, Aviles 3, Cunanan 2, Gordon 2, Pallingayan 1, Moralejo 0, Daileg 0, Caduyac 0, Panelo 0.
Quarters: 32-22; 59-40; 80-59; 103-78.
