NCAA: EAC upsets Benilde in scrappy outing

Emilio Aguinaldo College pulled off a surprise, upsetting College of St. Benilde, 69-67, in the NCAA Season 94 men’s basketball tournament Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

JP Magullano, who had seven points in the fourth quarter, scored the game’s biggest basket with his floater giving the 11th seeded Generals the 69-65 lead with two minutes left in the game.

The win didn’t have much impact on the Generals’ positioning oa they remain in the bottom half with 3-11 card hut it dampened the Blazers’ run as they slip to the fifth seed at 8-6.

EAC head coach Ariel Sison said they just stayed upbeat despite the record with their main goal this point in the tournament is to finish their season strong.

“We just keep a positive atmosphere during practices even though we’ve lost a lot of games we’re still excited to hold our practice sessions,” said Sison in Filipino. “I want to instill to my players that we can still fight.”

“We just want to keep fighting so that we won’t end the season at the very bottom.”

The Blazers still had a chance to at least cut the deficit to one with 17.5 seconds left but Hamadou Laminou blocked Clement Leutcheu’s layup attempt.

They also had a shot for the win but Ray Carlos’ bone-headed three-point attempt just bounced off the backboard with more than four seconds left.

Magullano finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Generals while Laminou had 13 points and seven boards.

Jerome Garcia put up the bare minimum of double-doubles with 10 points and 10 rebounds for EAC.

Haruna had 18 points and seven rebounds for the Blazers while Gutang had 16 points, five boards, and four assists.