Blazers, Altas hold on to last strands of hope

St. Benilde and Perpetual Help stayed in the hunt for the last slot in the NCAA Final Four as the Blazers and the Altas emerged the winners in a crucial doubleheader pitting teams in the lower half of the chart at the Cuneta Astrodome yesterday.

The Blazers ripped the Jose Rizal Heavy Bombers, 70-58, while the Altas upended the San Beda Red Lions, 66-60, to keep their flickering hopes alive for the semifinals.

With similar 4-8 win-loss cards, the two teams need to sweep their last two games and hope San Sebastian lose all its three remaining assignments to get a playoff crack at the last semis seat.

The San Beda Lions kissed their semis hope goodbye on their ninth defeat against only three wins.

The Blazers wore down the Heavy Bombers with an efficient trapping defense in the second half to snap an eight-game losing streak that preserved whatever’s left in their semis hopes.

St. Benilde seemed to take JRU lightly at the start following a 79-47 rout in their previous meeting and nearly paid for it as the Bombers dominated the first half though playing minus suspended main man Armando Maniego.

The Blazers returned to the game with a mean defense after the halftime break, and then unleashed a a lethal offensive as they stopped the longest losing streak in the tourney.