COLLEGE of St. Benilde bucked the left ankle sprain suffered by main guard Tony Ynot and scored a runaway 84-69 win over Jose Rizal University to end the first round of the NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball tournament on a high note.
The Blazers lost Ynot to injury in the opening quarter, but that didn’t prevent them from pulling away early on to finish the opening half of the eliminations with a league-best 7-2 record.
Ynot played for just 22 seconds and had an assist in his brief stint inside the Mall of Asia Arena on Tuesday.
He’s expected to miss a few games starting the second round, according to St. Benilde coach Charle Tiu.
“It’s pretty bad, kaya hindi na siya nakabalik,” said Tiu after the game.
But the entire Blazers team made up for the absence of one of their top scorers by dominating the Heavy Bombers in the first half that not even a late charge by Jose Rizal was enough to deny them of the victory.
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Jhomel Ancheta had a team-high of 17 points, seven rebounds, and three assists; Gab Cometa added 15; while the trio of big man Allen Liwag, Mark Sangco, and Justine Sanchez had 12 each for the Blazers, who bounced back from a 73-71 upset loss at the hands of Arellano University last week.
Sangco added 10 rebounds to register the game’s only double-double.
Tiu said losses to Jose Rizal and Letran prevented the Blazers from creating separation against the other teams in the upper half of the standings.
The Blazers lost both games by single possessions.
“We’re happy that we’re No. 1, but obviously we would have wanted a bit more breathing room kasi dikit-dikit lahat ng teams,” said Tiu. “Definitely, we want to get the twice-to-beat advantage sa Final Four if we do make it.”
Still, St. Benilde is assured of the No. 1 seed going to the second round even if Mapua – still playing defending champion San Beda at post time – also finished with a 7-2 record since the Blazers beat the Cardinals in their first meeting, 78-65.
The Bombers felt to a 3-6 record. They were led by the game-high 24 points of team captain Joshua Guiab.
The scores:
CSB 84 – Ancheta 17, Cometa 15, Liwag 12, Sangco 12, Sanchez 12, Ondoa 9, Torres 5, Jarque 2, Eusebio 0, Cajucom 0, Ynot 0, Serrano 0
JRU 69 – Guiab 24, Raymundo 12, Pangilinan 12, Argente 5, Mosqueda 5, Bernardo 3, De Jesus 2, Panapanaan 2, Garcia 2, Ferrer 2, Ramos 0, Benitez 0, De Leon 0, Sarmiento 0, Barrera 0
Quarterscores: 27-17; 55-29; 70-47; 84-69
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