MANILA, Philippines – College of St. Benilde head coach TY Tang heaved a sigh of relief. The final score of 79-56 — a win — over Jose Rizal University in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup did not reflect the struggle.
The Blazers were under siege from the JRU Heavy Bombers. They built a 20-point lead, 20-6, early in the second quarter, but JRU came storming back with their zone press.
With the lead down to five, 55-50, after a turnaround jumper in the lane by JRU guard MJ Dela Virgen, CSB caught some luck when the Heavy Bombers hurt by back-to-back unforced turnovers that blunted their momentum. On the offensive end, CSB knocked down four triples — including back-to-back treys from Unique Naboa — with an acrobatic lay-up by Yankie Haruna sandwiched in between for a 14-2 run to break the game wide open, 69-55.
“Their press gave us some problems and that is something we have to address especially when the NCAA season opens,” admitted Tang. “Luckily for us, our outside shots started falling for us.”
“I hope that Unique will find the consistency come the NCAA season,” added Tang of his third-year Filipino-New Zealander point guard.
CSB turned the ball over 36 times in the first 34 minutes and the Heavy Bombers collected 13 points from them. But the two errors — one by Marwin Dionisio and the other by Ryan Arenal blunted their momentum.
Yankie Haruna was the sole CSB Blazer in double digits as he scored 19 points.
JRU saw three players compile double figure scoring. Dela Virgen and Dionisio each tacked on 11 while Louise Delos Santos added 10 markers.
CSB ended a two-game slide to go to 1-2 while JRU, under new head coach Louie Gonzales, fell to 0-2.
Over in the high school division, National University survived a furious battle with La Salle Greenhills to prevail, 86-82.
LSGH led by three, 80-77, with 2:17 to play after point guard Kobe Palencia scored on a fastbreak lay-up.
NU retaliated with a jumper from Kevin Quiambao and a bucket off a nifty spin move in the lane by Carl Tamayo to seize the lead, 81-80, time down to 1:23.
Palencia put LSGH in front once more with a pair of free throws, 82-81. The Greenies were able to stop NU on their defensive end, but a botched alley-oop play by Palencia and Gian Arciago resulted in a turnover. After a Tamayo free throw, Quiambao hit two big shots to ice the game for the Bullpups.
Terrence Fortea and Quiambao each scored 20 points for NU while Tamayo added 19 and Gerry Abadiano contributed 13.
For LSGH, Arciago and Lennox Valenzuela each scored 19 with RC Calimag and Palencia chipping in 15 and 10 markers, respectively.
NU opened campaign with a win while LSGH succumbed to their third loss in as many outings.