NCAA: Hotshooting St. Benilde recovers, drubs Mapua

Yankie Haruna all pumped up for St. Benilde. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

St. Benilde outgunned Mapua, 90-79, for its first win in the NCAA Season 94 men’s basketball tournament on Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

With the game knotted at 71 midway through the fourth frame, the Blazers finished off the Cardinals with a 19-8 blast to bounce back from last week’s loss to San Sebastian for a 1-1 record.

“I’m happy with the win but the way we played I think there is still a lot of things that we can [improve],” said Benilde head coach TY Tang.

The Blazers had a jump on things, but the Cardinals made things interesting in the third quarter starting with a 12-5 run that cut a 56-47 lead down to 61-59.

Benilde shot lights out from behind the arc going 12-for-23 while Mapua, which dropped to 1-1, struggled with 0-for-11.

Yankie Haruna, who was benched for the first half in their last game, came alive and led the Blazers with 19 points while Justin Gutang added 17 markers and 10 assists.

Justin Serrano and Noah Lugo had 14 apiece for the Cardinals. Justin Robert Valencia