THINGS didn’t look good for St. Benilde entering its game against Letran as five of its players – led by reigning MVP Allen Liwag – missed the game due to illness.
Aside from Liwag, the Blazers also missed the services of Gab Cometa, Joshua Cajucom, Ernest Daja, and Jericho Jalalon.
“It's pretty bad. They couldn't even get out of bed. Some guys had dengue. A lot of guys were just feeling under the weather. So it's good that other guys were able to step up,” said head coach Charles Tiu.
READ: Benilde pulls away late to pounce on Letran's misery in NCAA S101
Still, the Blazers looked anything but depleted as it opened the match with a 31-point eruption in the first quarter, closed by a 12-0 run that featured a Shawn Umali triple and Matthew Oli scoring seven straight points in that stretch.
And even with the Knights taking control in the middle quarters, Benilde reclaimed their footing in the end game, forcing 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter and going on an uncontested 11-0 run to close the game.
“Well I think the big problem was we were shooting ourselves in the foot. We gave a lot of free throws to them so that was big I think. We committed way too many turnovers and we were doing things, we were gambling a little bit when we said we wouldn't do that,” Tiu said when asked of Letran’s comeback.
Less is more
Even with the DNPs piling up in such a crucial Group B game, Tiu was more than happy that the rest of the active players rose to the occasion.
Justine Sanchez, as expected, took the lead as he finished with 23 points – 16 of which coming in the second half.
Shawn Umali also played his best game for the Blazers – firing 13, but it was the tandem of Oli and Jhomel Ancheta who finished with 20 and 16 points respectively.
“A lot of guys were just feeling under the weather, so it's good that other guys were able to step up,” he said.
“We did a good job suppressing it. We threw the ball away so I think we cleaned that up in the half. We were able to attack their press a bit and we found a way to win,” he added.
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