IN danger of falling to its third straight loss and dropping further down the standings of its stacked group, College of St. Benilde had to dig down deep.
And the Blazers proved to have the grit necessary to climb out of the precarious hole they were stuck in.
St. Benilde fended off every Mapua rally before holding on to a 71-68 win and return to winning ways in the NCAA Season 102 men's basketball tournament on Monday at the Filoil Center in San Juan.
Ian Torres carried the fight offensively for pretty much the entire game for the Blazers before Justine Sanchez hit the killer blows in the end-game as they improved to 7-3 to catch the San Beda Red Lions and Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers atop Group A.
"Hats off to Mapua. They didn't give up. We were up by 10 points, but they kept coming back. They tied the game. We were lucky and fortunate to come away with the win, but we'll take it," St. Benilde head coach Paolo Layug said.
"Entering this game, we didn't really play well the last two games. The message was we have to be solid, I can't say some of the things that I said to the boys the last two days but we really tied to challenge them to step up, to be strong and be selfless," he continued.
"That was the message before the game and I think we had a lot of those plays in today's game."
Blazers find a way
The Blazers entered the fourth quarter holding a 10 point lead, a lead they kept for pretty much the early goings of the payoff period as Torres waxed hot from downtown. Mapua, however, answered with an 8-0 run midway through the period to tie the game at 63 apiece with 3:58 remaining.
But unlike in its last two games, St. Benilde would have answers this time.
Torres found Mowell Morales to regain the lead before Sanchez, quiet the entire game, drained a big three over the outstretched arms of NCAA Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Yam Concepcion to give the Blazers a 68-63 lead with 1:37 remaining in the game.
A three by Cy Cuenco in the next possession kept the door open for Mapua, but Sanchez once again took his matters in his own hands — attacking his defender before scoring on a short stab to give the Blazers a 70-66 lead with 28 seconds remaining.
Cuenco was then fouled while taking a three-pointer in the next possession to keep the Cardinals alive and trim the lead to one, but that would prove to be their last stand as Jhomel Ancheta split his charities before Cuenco missed what would've been a contested game-winner at the buzzer.
"Our players showed a lot of character in this game. It was really a tough game. We expected that. It was written on the board, playoff mentality. This is a playoff game. Pretty much all games right now will be playoff games," Layug continued.
Torres went 4-of-7 from threes to lead St. Benilde with 15 points alongside four assists while Ancheta and Raffy Celis added 14 each. Sanchez, scoreless for the first three quarters, scored all of his seven in the payoff period.
Cuenco likewise came alive in the clutch for the Cardinals as he finished with 21 points while Concepcion added 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the now 6-4 Cardinals who dropped to fourth place in their group with the loss.
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