Games on Tuesday
(Filoil Centre)
10 a.m. – AU vs JRU (Jrs)
Noon – EAC vs Mapúa (Jrs)
3 p.m. – AU vs JRU (Srs)
5 p.m. – EAC vs Mapúa (Srs)
AN ATROCIOUS start forced College of St. Benilde (CSB) coach Paolo Layug to sound the alarm.
The CSB Blazers responded by dominating the second half and snatching a come-from-behind 73-66 victory on Monday over the luckless San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) Golden Stags in NCAA Season 102 at the Filoil Centre.
It was CSB’s fifth victory in six starts that solidified its grip on the Group A lead.
And that was because the Blazers answered Mr. Layug’s wake-up call.
“Nung halftime, sinabihan kami nila coach kulang kami ng effort sa first half,” said CSB’s sweet-shooting guard Alaine Cajucom, who had one of his best performances in his career with 20 points.
“Bumawi lang kami sa second half, gusto lang talaga namin manalo ngayong game,” he added.
The Golden Stags dropped to 0-6 in Group B.
But SSC-R was far from the underdog on this one, at least in the first half when it took a 38-29 lead.
CSB came into the second half a different team and unleashed a series of runs, cutting its nine-point deficit to just three at the end of the third quarter and eventually overtook SSC-R with a decisive run in the final canto.
Mr. Cajucom happened to be at the center of it all as he dropped eight of his total points in that period.
For Mr. Layug, it was defense that spelled the biggest difference.
“Our defense wasn’t on point in the first half. Thankfully, we were able to get stops in the third and fourth quarters,” he said. — Joey Villar