After filing case vs Amores, Blazers fall to Altas

As long as anyone from Jose Rizal University (JRU) apologizes and justice is eventually served, St. Benilde is willing to forgive.

As far as Friday’s game was concerned, however, the Blazers would rather forget.

Hours after filing a physical injuries case against JRU standout John Amores at San Juan City’s Prosecutor’s Office, St. Benilde dropped a shock 89-83 defeat to Perpetual in the NCAA Season 98 men’s Basketball tournament at Filoil EcoOil Arena.

St. Benilde players Taine Davis and Jimboy Pasturan were named plaintiffs in the case. Davis was trying to pacify his teammates when Amores knocked him down with a vicious sucker punch to the chin. Pasturan, meanwhile, was punched in the eye and lay motionless on the floor for a long time as the melee unfolded.

“As disappointing as it is, we asked the team to just learn to forgive for whatever happened but we’re still gonna take the right actions that need to be done,” said St. Benilde coach Charles Tiu.

Tiu said neither Amores or any JRU representative has reached out to the Blazers apart from the public statement the Kalentong-based school released on Thursday.

“I do know that their school owner has reached out to our school president so that’s okay. Maybe certain individuals should come up [with apologies] or it would be nice to hear from them. But no, we haven’t heard anything from anybody, in our team at least,” Tiu stated.

Later Friday, the Blazers lost their fourth game in 14 games and stayed in second place after absorbing an 89-83 loss to Perpetual Help.

The Altas notched sixth win in 15 games behind Carlo Ferreras’ clutch basket late in the game and 19 points total and Cedric Abis’ 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists—the league’s first triple double performance since pro standout Bong Quinto assembled one while playing for Letran in 2018. INQ