MANILA – College of St. Benilde Blazers ended two decades of Final Four futility with an 83-78 triumph over the San Sebastian College Stags in the NCAA Season 98 men’s basketball on Tuesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Will Gozum tallied double-double 25 points and 10 rebounds to go with six assists and two steals as the Blazers moved up to 11-4 in the standings to formally clinch a Final Four seat.
Negrense Miggy Corteza also made his presence felt with 18 markers, while Prince Carlos and Migs Oczon had 14 and 10 respectively, with the former having six boards, a dime, and two steals; the latter added six rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block.
However, it was not a walk in a park of a victory for the Blazers as the Stags were hanging around at 76-80 with over a minute left before Oczon created some separation with a three-point made.
Stags made its last stand with Ichie Altamirano converting on a layup to cut the deficit to 78-83 but they could not come even closer as Jessie Sumoda misfired on his triple attempts.
“It feels great, to be honest. It’s one of the goals we had this season, especially since not a lot of people expected us to be in the Final Four,” Blazers head coach Charles Tiu said after the match.
Kenneth Villapando finished with double-double 10 points and 12 rebounds to go with five assists, while Altamirano and Rommel Calahat added 11 markers each as the Stags bowed out of Final Four contention with its 6-9 record.
Meanwhile, Arellano University Chiefs survived a comeback scare from University of Perpetual Help System Altas with an 86-81 victory in a battle of two teams who were already out of playoffs contention.
Down by as much as 13 points late in the fourth quarter, the Altas went on a huge 10-0 blast to cut the deficit to 81-84. The Chiefs, however, managed to escape on two free throws by Art Oliva.
Darrell Shane Menina top-scored with 25 points, Axel Doromal chipped in 20 markers, while rookie center Cade Flores had double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Chiefs.
BOX SCORE:
CSB 83 — Gozum 25, Corteza 18, Carlos 14, Oczon 10, Pasturan 8, Cullar 4, Lepalam 4, Nayve 0, Marcos 0, Sumabat 0, Davis 0, Lim 0.
SAN SEBASTIAN 78 — Altamirano 11, Calahat 11, Villapando 10, Desoyo 10, Sumoda 7, Escobido 7, Are 5, Cosari 5, Suico 5, Una 5, Aguilar 2, Yambing 0, Shanoda 0, Concha 0.
Quarterscores: 20-21, 44-40, 63-57, 83-78./PN
