Blazers slowly distancing selves from ugly loss

Migs Oczon (left) returns to action for the St. Benilde Blazers. –FILOIL PHOTO

St. Benilde’s 30-point romp against the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Generals on Tuesday makes it three straight wins for the Blazers now since suffering a 56-point defeat to the University of the Philippines recently.

“We are happy with the wins. It’s a good bounce-back; the team showed a lot of character, and they showed improvement. But there’s still a long way to go,” said Blazers head coach Charles Tiu after St. Benilde’s 100-70 victory in the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup in San Juan City.

St. Benilde (4-2) has certainly turned a page since that humiliating loss to the Maroons, making 53 percent of its shots against EAC (2-3), anchored on fluid playmaking: The Blazers had 33 assists on their 39 made field goals against the Generals’ 13 dimes.

Will Gozum led the way with 17 points, while Migs Oczon, playing his first game since their opening game in the tournament, added 15 with four makes from beyond the arc.

Tiu continues to search for his permanent core rotation for the upcoming NCAA season.

“I like to give guys opportunities, depending on how they practice. If they do well in practice, you’d like to reward your players and give everybody a chance. Everybody has to be ready. Sometimes, Will will play for 15 minutes if I’m not happy; I don’t care who you are. You really have to earn your minutes,” he said. —CONTRIBUTED