St. Benilde, Mapua score wins in NCAA

MANILA, Philippines—Also-rans St. Benilde and Mapua notched contrasting wins in their penultimate matches in the 88th NCAA men’s basketball tournament Monday at the Arena in San Juan city.

The Blazers got a boost from Mark Romero for their fifth win of the season, downing Arellano, 74-69.

Romero paced St. Benilde with 17 points, four rebounds, and two assists while four other green shirts chipped in double-digit outputs.

Johin Pinto and Vergel Zulueta had 16 points apiece for the Chiefs, who failed to nab a second straight win and dropped to 6-11.

Meanwhile, Mapua dealt cellar-dweller Lyceum a convincing loss to end its season, 58-76, in the other game.

Mike Parala finished with 17 markers, as the Cardinals, who just couldn’t make it to the top four, scored their seventh victory of the season.

Shane Ko once again exploded for the Pirates, who ended with a 3-15 card, with 21 points in his last game of the season.