Perpetual trips Jose Rizal; St. Benilde turns back EAC

Perpetual Help is slowly finding its groove—and its touch from the outside—as it successfully battled to stay inside the top four of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The Altas made their shots and threw in crucial stops to turn back Jose Rizal University, 78-72, Tuesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

AJ Coronel and Jelo Razon combined for a trio of clutch triples and the Altas defused the Bombers’ offense to nail their second straight win and fourth overall in six games for a share of the third spot in the tournament.

“We made shots and stops, those are the only ways to win games,” said Perpetual Help coach Frankie Lim.

The Bombers, looking to end a tough slide, had backed the Altas into a 69-72 corner on the heroics of Jed Mendoza and Jun Silvarez, but couldn’t sustain their run and crashed to their seventh straight loss.

St. Benilde, meanwhile, drew a season-best effort from JJ Domingo to repulse Emilio Aguinaldo College, 84-71, in the other game.

Domingo, who averaged 2.2 points going into the match, exploded for 22 to help the Blazers snap a two-game slide and log their third win in seven matches.

“We were alive again and we hope this win gives us momentum entering our final two first round games,” said St. Benilde coach TY Tang, whose team tangles with Arellano U on Friday and Perpetual Help on Aug. 24.

The Blazer, however, may miss Clement Leutcheu in their next game after the Cameroonian was ejected for being assessed two technical fouls, the last one for figuring in a shoving match with EAC’s Juju Bautista midway in the last canto.

That an automatic one-game suspension for Leutcheu.

Domingo, a senior, dumped eight points in the fourth quarter to cool down the Generals’ repeated comeback bids.

“I hope he continues to dish out this kind of games,” said Tang.