The De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) Blazers fumbled an outright berth to the final four after surrendering to the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Generals, 69-77, today, Nov. 22, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
The early minutes of the opening period was a slug fest between both squads, flaunting their pesky defense and staggering offense making life difficult for one another. Midway through the period saw a battle between the star forwards of both teams. Miguel Corteza anchored the Blazers’ offense while it was JP Maguilano who directed things for the Generals. Both answered each other with baskets of their own. Although Maguilano got the edge as the period ended with the Blazers trailing by five, 21-16.
The follow-up period saw a more composed Taft squad after tying things up at 21-21. Corteza continued his strong start after another series of shots in the paint. Blazers’ team captain Robi Nayve also poured in for the Taft squad after consecutive trips to the charity and strong finishes to the cup, giving back the lead to the Blazers to end the period, 33-28.
Determined to reclaim the lead, the Generals came out firing from all corners in the third canto, headed by the front court duo of Nat Cosejo and Maguilano, who drained jumpers and scored baskets below the rim. When everything was slowly heading towards the Generals side, the Blazers continued to rely on Corteza and his fine play, the Benilde forward aggressively knocked down shots over the EAC defense. Despite Corteza’s efforts, the Generals reclaimed the lead to end the period, 49-52.
The payoff period was greeted by a series of runs by the backcourt duo of the Generals, Kyle Ochavo and King Gurtiza, who converted fast break layups over another. The Blazers couldn’t find their mark throughout the period which helped the Generals to balloon their lead to double digits. Cosejo would ice the game with back-to-back hits from downtown. The Generals never looked back and continued to rain down from deep to secure the win, 69-77.
Cosejo was named player of the game after dropping a season high of 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. Meanwhile, Corteza headed the Taft squad in points after scoring 19 points of his own.
After suffering another loss, the Benilde Blazers ultimately put their final four fate in the hands of the Mapua University (MU) Cardinals. The Cardinals took down the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers on the same day to secure the final four seats of San Beda University (SBU) Red Lions and the Benilde Blazers.
Box Scores:
DLS-CSB (69): Corteza 19, Sangco 12, Gozum 10, Nayve 10, Cajucom 8, Carlos 4, Marcos 2, Oczon 2, Turco 2, Arciaga 0, Jarue 0, Mara 0, Morales 0
EAC (77): Cosejo 26, Maguliano 12, Angeles 9, Gurtiza 9, Robin 6, Luciano 5, Cosa 3, Umpad 3, Bacud 2, Ochavo 2, Doria 0, Quinal 0, Tolentino 0
