Blazers lean on Liwag’s hot hands

MANILA, Philippines — St. Benilde big man Allen Liwag promised a better version of himself entering NCAA Season 100.

Liwag is living up to that promise powering the Blazers to a 103-78 rout of the Lyceum U Pirates yesterday that kept the former at the helm at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.

“Credit na lang sa team at sa coaches sa tiwala na binibigay nila sa akin,” said Liwag, who dropped a monster 22-point, 12-rebound and one-block effort that lifted CSB to a league-best 5-1 slate.

Liwag said the team vowed not to blow this one the way they did when they imploded in a heartbreaking 71-69 defeat to Letran Sunday.

“Hindi kami pwede mag-relax dahil lahat ng teams gusto kami talunin,” said Liwag, who was almost unstoppable inside after making 10 of the 12 shots.

The Pirates stumbled to 3-3.

Earlier, Mapua went to Marc Cuenco and Clint Escamis in the second half as it bashed San Sebastian, 91-72, to jump into a three-way logjam with University of Perpetual Help and Letran at second spot on 4-2 cards.

Cuenco and Escamis connived in the final two quarters when the Cardinals turned a four-point first half lead into a mammoth lead that the Stags just couldn’t overcome.

In that stretch, Cuenco scored 17 of his 26 points and Escamis, the reigning MVP, 10 of his 25 that quashed whatever hopes left for the Stags to mount a fight back.

The Stags dropped to 2-5.