Stag party

Allyn Bulanadi dropped a career-high 32 points as the San Sebastian Stags exacted sweet revenge on the College of St. Benilde Blazers, 83-67, on Thursday in the NCAA Season 95 men’s basketball tournament at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

“It really felt good to see most of those shots go in,” Bulanadi said in Filipino after leading the Stags, who got back at one of three first-round tormentors.

“But more importantly, I’m happy that we beat a potential Final Four rival,” added Bulanadi, who went 5-for-12 from beyond three-point distance to highlight one of the most explosive individual efforts of the season.

Seeing action in his final year, Bulanadi also scored in transition that made it 78-53, as the Stags bloated a 68-50 lead at the end of the third that all but took the fight out of the Blazers.

Streaking to their fourth consecutive win, the Stags rose to 7-3 to tie the idle Letran Knights in third spot while sending the Blazers to their fourth defeat in 10 games overall.

Defending champion San Beda leads the field, still unbeaten in 10 games.

Speedy guard RK Ilagan fired 13 points and had four assists, Alvin Capobres added 12 points and six rebounds while JM Calma plucked 14 boards for the Stags, who tore down the CSB defense in a crucial third-quarter run.

“I told them that all those who defeated us are in the top four. We will be able to gauge ourselves by beating these teams,” said San Sebastian coach Egay Macaraya.

Yankie Haruna was the lone bright spot for the Blazers with 16 points and nine rebounds after they were completely bottled up in the third frame when Bulanadi went on a scoring spree.

Justin Gutang contributed nine points on top of 10 rebounds and eight assists. He was 2-for-12 from the field.

“We still have eight games to play. Our teamwork, like we have shown today, will be crucial if we want to keep up with the strong teams,” Macaraya said.

In the other game, Mike Nzeusseu and JC Marcelino scored 21 points each as the Lyceum Pirates demolished the Perpetual Help Altas, 89-74, to claim solo second in the tournament.

Slowly building momentum for the playoffs, the Pirates moved up with an 8-3 record.

The Altas, meanwhile, continued to plunge deep into the standings with a 3-7 slate in the company of the Jose Rizal Heavy Bombers.