COLLEGE of St. Benilde continued its meteoric rise in the NCAA Season 94 as it came away with a crucial 91-87 win over the Perpetual Help Altas to kick off its second-round campaign on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Arena
The Blazers got contributions from nearly everybody as they moved temporarily to solo third place at 7-3, while moving two games ahead of the Altas who are at fifth place with a 5-5 record.
Trailing the Altas by one just when Prince Eze was flexing his muscles late in the game, Yankie Haruna and Justin Gutang came up with big baskets to lead Benilde to the critical win.
Haruna gave the Blazers the lead for good with a minute left in the game before Gutang drained the dagger three with 36.2 seconds left to give the Blazers an 87-83 lead.
"This is a big win for us. It gave us a separation for the Final Four spot by at least two games. Good thing there di na namin makakalaban ang Perps," said St. Benilde coach TY Tang.
"I guess if want to get to playoffs, we need to win these kind of games, dikdikan, given we didn’t have Eduard Dixon, we lost JJ (Domingo) before the game, we have to fight it through whatever happens, move on and get to the Final Four," he added.
Haruna finished with 19 points, three assists, and three steals as Jimboy Pasturan added 17.
Unique Naboa chipped in 14 as Gutang had 13 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
Eze finished with 36 points, 17 rebounds, and five blocks for the Altas while Jielo Razon added 18 as they continued to slide without ace playmaker Edgar Charcos.
The scores:
BENILDE 91 -- Haruna 19, Pasturan 17, Naboa 14, Gutang 13, Nayve 7, Young 7, Leutcheu 5, Belgica 4, Carlos 3, Velasco 2, Pagulayan 0.
PERPETUAL 87 -- Eze 36, Razon 18, Peralta 8, Aurin 7, Cuevas 7, Coronel 6, Tamayo 3, Mangalino 2, Pasia 0.
Quarters: 17-20, 49-43, 68-62, 91-87.
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