Crippled Dolphins win; Cards walk out

Philippine Christian University bucked severe manpower loss to beat Perpetual Help-Rizal, 72-70, yesterday in the 78th NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Later in the day, another game ended on forfeiture with Mapua walking out in the closing seconds of its match with St. Benilde due to confusion on the application of rules on technical fouls. Mapua, however, put the game under protest, and the league’s management committee was holding an emergency meeting at presstime.

St. Benilde, seeking its eighth win in nine outings, was ahead at 65-60 with only 10 ticks left in the contest when Blazer Al Magpayo and Cardinal Edsel Feliciano figured in a verbal tussle leading to technical fouls.

Magpayo was earlier called for an unsportsmanlike foul, his fifth in the game, then assessed a technical together with Feliciano following their verbal confrontation.

The referees then cancelled the technical foul on Magpayo when they learned that the Blazer had already fouled out on the previous call.

This prompted the Cards to walk out, questioning the penalty they received on the incident triggered by Magpayo.

PBL mainstay Bernzon Franco and Joseph Roque stepped up for the crippled Dolphins with Alwyn Ilagan, Rob Sanz, Nelson Gatdula, Leo Gaspi and Al Dais out on suspension, and the team got back on track after forfeiting their fight-marred duel with the San Beda Lions Thursday.

"We put behind that sad incident and did the best we could with a crippled lineup," said PCU coach Jimmy Mariano.

Franco and Roque took turns in delivering the goods for the team in the final two quarters, leading the Dolphins to their seventh win in nine outings.

The bullstrong Franco dominated the shaded area as he exploded for 22 points, including nine in the third period, while Roque struck hardest from the perimeter, scattering nine of his 16 markers in the final canto.

The duo did the most damage as the Altas suffered their eighth setback against a solitary win.

Perpetual had a chance to steal the win with 11 seconds to go but Mark Aseron blew it on a missed three-point attempt.

Fouled with two seconds left in the clock, Roque split two charities for the final count.

The Dolphins threatened to pull away a number of times but the Altas kept coming back to keep the game close throughout.