‘Learned’ Bombers finish with a flurry to upset Blazers

Photo from NCAA

Jose Rizal University (JRU) has embraced the routine of quickly going over every match the Heavy Bombers play—win or lose—and learning from it.

They won’t kick the habit despite ending their five-game losing skein against the College of St. Benilde Blazers, 74-68, on Tuesday in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

“Every time we play, we immediately watch the game at night, analyze, learn and move forward the day after,’’ said coach Louie Gonzales after the Bombers notched their first victory of the season by bringing down the heavily favored Blazers. “We were able to prove that we are capable of finishing a game the right way. Our main problem the past few games was how to finish a game.”

JL delos Santos scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds, while Jason Celis, JRU’s chief gunner, contributed 17 points for the Bombers, who will enter their five-day break thinking of their succeeding crucial assignments.

“We are really after the process that this team is going through. If our goal is to win, we really have to develop ourselves, physically, mentally and emotionally,’’ said Gonzales.

The Bombers have to go through the transformation real quick with San Sebastian and defending champion Letran up next after the Holy Week break.“Given that time of preparation, the challenge now is consistency. We’re new to this situation, we just won our first [game],’’ said Gonzales.

Besides Delos Santos and Celis, the outspoken mentor had good words for big men RJ Arenal and EJ Agbong as well as Marwin Dionisio, who drove the dagger—a layup with 38 seconds remaining—into St. Benilde’s heart.

The Blazers saw their four-game run snapped and fell to 4-2, after a maze of errors and the injury of Will Gozum.

Gozum gave the Blazers their first taste of the lead at the turn after falling behind by as many as nine points. But a hurting right foot forced him to ride the bench the rest of the way. INQ