I actually told my players during halftime to have shame on themselves.

San Beda University took its sweet time before going for the kill as it hammered a 95-73 win over College of Saint Benilde in Season 95 National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Calvin Oftana and James Canlas carried the fight for the Red Lions, who waged a scorching rally in the second half to capture their 17th straight win and move a win away from sweeping the double round eliminations of the oldest collegiate league in the country.

Should the Red Lions prevail over Lyceum of the Philippines on Thursday next week, they will clinch an automatic slot in the best-of-three finals showdown while the rest of the field will have to go through a step-ladder phase.

In the second game, Mapua University kept its Final Four bid flickering after dispatching San Sebastian College, 90-73, behind the 22-point explosion from Noah Lugo.

The Cardinals improved their win-loss record to 8-8 and denied the Stags of completing the Final Four cast after dropping to 9-7.

Mapua’s win also put Saint Benilde in the Final Four race despite losing to San Beda earlier.

RK Ilagan and Allyn Bulanadi paced San Sebastian with 19 and 18 points, respectively.

A prized recruit from Siaton, a small coastal town in Negros, Oftana fired a career-high 29 points on a sizzling 11-of-17 shooting while Canlas delivered an all-around performance of 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Red Lions, who are looking to punch their 14th straight finals appearance.

The Blazers dictated the tempo early and even held a 50-45 advantage in the third period when Justin Gutang was slapped with a flagrant foul for hitting Oftana.

That incident fired up Oftana as he engineered a 27-8 rally to erect a 72-58 lead entering the final 10 minutes of the game.

It was all San Beda the rest of the way as it led as many as 28 points, 88-60, to push the Blazers on the brink of elimination as the Taft-based team dropped to 7-9 mark.

“I salute College of Saint Benilde because they came out strong today in the first half. We have to go back to basics. Our defense was lousy today,” San Beda head coach Boyet Fernandez said.

“I actually told my players during halftime to have shame on themselves. They’ve been playing really well for the past 16 games then they will just do the different things in this game.”

Fernandez said it was Oftana who stepped up for us and prompted them to tighten up the screws on the defensive end.

“Good thing that Calvin stepped up his game. As long as he plays the way he plays in the second half, it will be really good for us,” Fernandez said.

“And I told my boys that it’s their choice. If they want to win it, they have to play defense.”

Gutang fired 23 points to go along with his five rebounds for the Blazers, who piled up five straight wins at the start of the tournament before losing seven of their next 11 matches.