NCAA: ‘Lucky’ Benilde escapes JRU for fifth straight win

MANILA, Philippines—Lady luck was on the side of College of St. Benilde as it squeaked past Jose Rizal University, 84-81, in the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball tournament at San Juan Arena.

The Blazers extended their winning streak to five games but not without a stroke of luck, according to coach Charles Tiu.

“I’m happy that we’ve been playing better but we dug ourselves a bit of a hole so we needed to bounce back,” said Tiu.

“JRU’s a really tough team, they’re really good, we got away and got lucky with this one.”

With the score tied at 62-all, Benilde went on a torrid 13-1 blitz capped by a Will Gozum basket in the paint to take a 75-63 lead.

JRU, though, refused to back down and shaved the lead to just three, 84-81, with eight ticks left in the game and had a chance to tie in the end.

Fortunately for Benilde, Gozum was there to deny Joshua Guiab’s potential game-tying triple.

The pulsating victory hiked the Blazers’ slate to 9-4 with Gozum unleashing a game-high 27 points. Miggy Corteza and Migs Oczon scored 18 and 14, respectively, in the win.

Guiab posted a double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds but JRU dropped to 8-6.

Earlier, Perpetual Help sent Arellano to its third straight loss with an 81-74 win.

Christian Pagaran finished with 21 points to fuel the Altas to a 6-7 record. Marcus Nitura also helped the cause with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

Jeadan Ongotan and Lorenz Capulong combined for 31 points for the Chiefs, who crashed to a lowly 2-11 card.