Blazers blast Stags for first win in Filoil pre-season cup

Gabby Velasco. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Taking care of the leather better, St. Benilde zoomed to its first win by defeating St. Benilde, 82-72, Wednesday in the 2014 Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan.

After erratic showing in two games, the Blazers limited their miscues to just 13 which allowed them to dominate the Stags from start to finish.

“What I was expecting that we’ll try to improve whatever mistakes we did the previous games,” said head coach Gabby Velasco when ask whether he expected to lead big versus San Sebastian.

“Last time, we had 24 turnovers but today we had less, and we also shot well. Those two are our main concerns,” he added.

St. Benilde knocked down seven triples, shot 51 percent from inside the arc, and had a 20-12 edge in assists despite getting outrebounded 32-46.

The Blazers posted a commanding 42-24 halftime lead, which they wouldn’t relinquish even after the Stags started hitting their stride in the second half.

Powered by Robert Bartolo’s 23-point, six-rebound performance and boosted by Jonathan Grey’s 15 points, St. Benilde improved to 1-2 in group C.

The Stags, meanwhile, dropped to 1-2 after turning the ball over 24 times.

Jovit Dela Cruz had 20 points for San Sebastian while Jaymark Perez and Mike Calisaan added 10 points apiece but all three combined for eight TOs.

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