Blazers stall Cards’ Final 4 bid

Out of the Final Four race, St. Benilde came through with a big game to deny Mapua’s bid for an outright entry into the next round as the Blazers blazed home with a surprise 80-72 victory yesterday in the 79th NCAA basketball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Rookie Juan Luis Eliseo Abad III and Al Magpayo took over for St. Benilde in the third quarter, scoring seven points apiece to power the Blazers to a huge 18-point lead which they preserved to seal what was only their fifth win in 12 games.

"We want to win not for anybody else but for ourselves," said St. Benilde coach Tonichi Yturri. "We want to prove to ourselves and to the school that we can still play this good even though we’re already out of the running."

In the other game, Philippine Christian University unleashed a 7-0 blitz in the final two minutes as it dragged Perpetual Help out of the Final Four race with a 62-61 triumph.

Joseph Roque scored on a driving lay-up with 23 seconds left in the game to seal the Dolphins’ fourth win against nine defeats.

It was the Altas’ eight setback in 13 outings.

Despite taking its sixth loss against seven victories, Mapua still has a chance to join defending champion San Sebastian (9-4), Letran (8-5) and Jose Rizal (8-5) in the semifinals with a win over Philippine Christian University (3-9) on Friday.

Mapua appeared to have seized momentum after a basket each by Jofferson Gonzales and Ryan Malig that turned a 32-35 deficit at the break to a 36-35 lead.

But the Cards failed to neutralize the diminutive Abad, who starred in a decisive 29-10 run that saw the Blazers erect a 64-46 advantage at the start of the final quarter.

Mapua managed to trim that deficit down to a single-digit, 70-76, with 1.04 minutes remaining in the contest but it proved to be the closest that the Cardinals could get as the Blazers simply defused the rally on Magpayo and Abad’s charities.