WALK IN THE PARK: Blazers get back into groove, blast Pirates

Games today:

(Filoil EcoOil Centre)

11 a.m. — San Beda vs Arellano

2:30 p.m. — Perpetual vs Letran

College of Saint Benilde made sure there won’t be any comebacks from Lyceum of the Philippines University as it pulled off a 103-78 demolition job in Season 100 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament Friday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Learning from their 71-69 loss to Letran College last Sunday, Blazers head coach Charles Tiu wanted his boys to establish themselves in the game and be more energetic against the Pirates.

“We felt we were good enough to win that Letran game. We just let it slip away so we made sure it won’t happen again and we came out with more energy,” Tiu said.

“Lyceum has been on a winning streak. They’re a Final Four contender like us so we wanted to make sure we got them from the start and we were able to get enough stops and we had a good offensive game.”

After ending the first quarter on top, 32-22, Saint Benilde stayed on top as it picked up its fifth win of the season.

The Blazers even led by as many as 29 points, 96-67, after Ian Torres drained a triple with two minutes and 16 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Allen Liwag led Saint Benilde with a double-double game of 22 points and 12 rebounds while Justine Sanchez scored 18 points as he went 5-of-5 from the field.

Mclaude Guadaña had 26 points for Lyceum while John Barba was limited to 12 points due to a horrible 5-of-14 shooting clip.

Meanwhile, Marc Cuenco erupted for a career-high 26 points to lead Mapua University to a 91-72 win over San Sebastian College in the first game.

Reigning Most Valuable Player Clint Escamis also dropped 25 points as the Cardinals improved to a 4-2 win-loss record and are tied for second place with Letran and University of Perpetual Help System Dalta.

Mapua head coach Randy Alcantara said defending against Raphael Are and Tristan Felebrico has been crucial in their win.

“Number one, our problem against Lyceum was our defense. Are and Felebrico still scored but I think the defense was good,” Alcantara said.

“Clint can score. Cuenco is just ready to score and I told them we can’t just rely on the same guys to score for us.”

Felebrico scored 20 points for the Stags while Are had 17 points but had a bad shooting night with a 3-of-10 clip from the field.

The scores:

First game:

MAPUA (91) — Cuenco 26, Escamis 25, Hubilla 12, Bancale 6, Igliane 6, Jabonete 6, Concepcion 6, Mangubat 4, Abdulla 0, Fermin 0, Pantaleon 0, Agemenyi 0.

SAN SEBASTIAN (72) — Felebrico 20, Are 17, Aguilar 9, Cruz 8, Escobido 7, L. Gabat 3, Suico 3, Velasco 2, Lintol 2, R. Gabat 1, Pascual 0, Ricio 0, Ramilo 0.

QUARTERS: 22-12, 39-35, 65-48, 91-72.

Second game:

SAINT BENILDE (103) — Liwag 22, Sanchez 18, Morales 10, Torres 9, Cometa 9, Sangco 8, Eusebio 7, Galas 7, Ondoa 4, Ynot 3, Cajucom 3, Serrano 3, Carillo 0, Turco 0, Oli 0.

LYCEUM (78) — Guadaña 26, Montaño 14, Barba 12, Villegas 6, Peñafiel 4, Culanay 4, Paulo 4, Aviles 3, Cunanan 2, Gordon 2, Pallingayan 1, Moralejo 0, Daileg 0, Caduyac 0, Panelo 0.

QUARTERS: 32-22, 59-40, 80-59, 103-78.