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| Ian Torres celebrated a bit too much after making a basket. NCAA |
SAN JUAN, MM—College of St. Benilde played the role of streak-buster on Monday after defeating Mapua 71-69 in the NCAA Season 102 men’s basketball tournament at FilOil Centre.
The Blazers snapped the Cardinals’ six-game winning streak, all while halting their two-game losing slide for a 7-3 record improvement in Group A.
“We were lucky and fortunate to take the win today. We’ll take it,” coach Paolo Layug said.
“We just had to be solid… I can't say some of the things I told the boys in the past few days, but I really challenged them to step up today,” he added in jest.
Benilde held a convincing five-point lead late in the game, 68-63, after a Justine Sanchez triple at the 1:37 mark of the fourth quarter.
Cyrus Cuenco kept the Cardinals alive with a triple, but Sanchez responded almost immediately with a short stab to give the Blazers a 70-66 lead with under 30 seconds to go.
Cuenco, who finished with 21 points, three assists, and two steals, was fouled in the next possession and sank all three of his freebies to inch closer to Benilde, 70-69, with 18 ticks to go.
While Jhommel Ancheta split his free throws on the other end, it was just enough to keep Mapua at bay as Cuenco missed the potential game-winning triple as time expired.
Ian Torres had his fingerprints all over the ball with 15 points, four assists, and three rebounds in the win. Ancheta and Raffy Celis also turned in 14 markers each for Benilde.
Yam Concepcion registered 12 points and seven rebounds for Mapua while Jamal Diaz scored nine in the Cardinals’ (6-4) fourth loss in ten games.
The scores:
CSB 71 - Torres 15, Ancheta 14, Celis 14, Sanchez 7, Cajucom 4, Go 4, Lorenzo 4, Morales 3, Jucom 2, Podador 2, Moore 2, Galas 0
Mapua 69 - Cuenco 21, Concepcion 12, Diaz 9, M. Nitura 9, Igliane 7, Lazarte 5, Mendoza 3, Dones 2, Reyes 1, L. Nitura 0, Razon 0, Liwanag 0, Bernabe 0
Quarters: 19-16, 33-30, 55-45, 71-69
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