Dolphins prick Blazers’ bubble

Philippine Christian University dug deep into its bagful of tricks yesterday to stop erstwhile unbeaten St. Benilde, 80-72, in the 78th NCAA men’s basketball tournament before a boisterous crowd at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Loreto Soriano and Alwyn Ilagan played the heroes’ role for the Dolphins as they pulled off the biggest upset win so far in the season and denied the Blazers, the 2000 champions, a sweep of the first round of the elimination.

With the victory, its sixth straight following an opening-day loss to Letran, PCU climbed into a tie with St. Benilde, and promptly installed itself as one of the teams to beat this year.

The Blazers found a way to stop PBL veteran Bernzon Franco, who was held to just eight points after a string of double-double performances. But the Taft-based cagers seemed to have taken Soriano and Ilagan for granted.

They paid dearly for it.

Soriano and Ilagan proved unstoppable throughout the game, knocking in nine triples for a combined effort of 41 points for the low-key squad now being coached by Jimmy Mariano.

"Dinala ni Lot (Soriano) at Alwyn ang team pero sa tingin ko defense ang nag-decide ng laro," said Mariano, a former Olympian and champion coach in the PBA.

Defending champion San Sebastian, for its part, moved closer to PCU and St. Benilde after it notched its fourth win in six outings with a 65-52 bashing of undermanned Mapua.

The Cardinals, missing the services of suspended Jeff Martin, controlled the pace in the first two quarters but felt the absence of its starting guard as they fell into a maze of errors that spelled their fourth defeat in six games.

In the third seniors match of the day, Jose Rizal College leaned on the end-game heroics of rookie Edward Attunaga as it turned back Letran in overtime, 100-96, for its third win in as many games. The Knights wound up tied with the Heavy Bombers.

While Soriano and Ilagan were resting on the bench, St. Benilde erased a 13-point deficit and leveled the count at 70-all.

But the Dolphins, who fell just short of reaching the Final Four last year, unleashed a choking defense in the final four minutes, leading to a 10-2 run and the victory.

St. Benilde’s Sunday Salvacion fired 24 points this time but ran out of ammunition down the stretch as the Blazers failed in their bid of winning all their seven games in the first round.

With Soriano and Ilagan hitting their target, the Dolphins led by as many as 13 points thrice, the last when Ilagan buried a triple from the left corner for a 61-48 count late in the third quarter.

But Salvacion and Alex Magpayo, one of the eight players suspended for their involvement in the fight-marred St. Benilde-Mapua game last month, spearheaded a spirited rally that Loreto Tolentino capped with a long trey, 70-all.

But it was to be the Blazers’ last of stand as the Dolphins threw a defensive blanket that zapped the fight out of them.