St. Benilde Blazers’ Tony Ynot during Game 1 of the NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball Finals against Mapua Cardinals. –NCAA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Tony Ynot struggled to get things going in St. Benilde’s Game 1 loss to Mapua in the NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball Finals.
The Blazers absorbed an 84-73 loss at the hands of the Cardinals, with Ynot just finishing with seven points as a starter, as they moved on the brink of losing another shot at the title.
“With our defense, we didn’t even do that much. We had a lot of turnovers. We’ll just go back to [film] viewing, we’ll prepare to avoid our mistakes and we’ll fix it to bounce back for Game 2,” said Ynot in Filipino on Sunday after the loss.
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The Blazers looked like a deer caught in the headlights as they allowed 23 turnovers against Mapua, which in turn registered 19 steals as a team.
Ynot felt Mapua’s defense on full throttle as he finished a he made just three out of eight attempts from the field.
“I was suddenly being doubled and I wasn’t ready,” said the shifty guard. “I’ll study about those mistakes in training and I’ll change how I react to their defense. I’ll just go back to training and stay focused.”
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Charles Tiu and the Blazers also have to figure out how to stop Cardinals star guard Clint Escamis, who dropped another scoring masterclass in the opener.
“We’ll study his moves because he’s really good. In training, we’ll think about how to stop him and defend him because even if he’s doubled, he still finds a way to score,” Ynot said. “Hopefully for Game 2, we can stop him.”
Benilde looks to force a deciding Game 3 on Saturday when they face off against Mapua for Game 2 at the Big Dome.