Blazers bounce back with aplomb, destroy Pirates

College of St. Benilde’s Allen Liwag during an NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball tournament game. –NCAA Photo

Still licking the wounds of its first loss in Season 100 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, College of St. Benilde on Friday made sure to not give hapless Lyceum any breathing room before pulling out a 103-78 win to get its campaign back on track at San Juan Arena.

Allen Liwag, the first recipient of the Collegiate Press Corps’ Player of the Week plum for the season, led the Blazers with 22 points and 12 rebounds, missing just two of his 12 shots from the field in a magnificent display of efficiency.

“We all did a review of the game [that we lost] and decided that we will move on from that,” Liwag said in Filipino after the Blazers led by as many as 29 points on the way to rising to 5-1 and snapping the Pirates’ three-game winning streak.

Benilde’s unblemished start was halted by Letran last week via a 71-69 thriller, as the Blazers showed the resolve in bouncing back and restoring order.

Justine Sanchez didn’t miss a shot—five from the field and eight from the stripe—and finished with 18 points to back up Liwag, who said that “we need to go all out every time because all the teams want to beat us.”

Mclaude Guadaña finished with 26 points as Lyceum dropped to a 3-3 card. The guard duo of Gyle Montano and John Barba also finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, Mapua pinned a fifth straight loss on San Sebastian, 91-72, in an earlier game where Marc Guenco tallied 26 points with three assists and three rebounds to match, to give the Cardinals a 4-2 card.

Reigning league MVP Clint Escamis, meanwhile, registered 25 points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Tristan Felebrico tallied 20 points and nine rebounds while Rafael Are dropped 17 for the Stags, who slipped to 2-5.