Lions maul Blazers, regain lead; Stags win

MANILA, Philippines - San Beda held St. Benilde to a season-low two points in the first quarter and went on to fashion out a 65-46 rout and wrest the solo lead again in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan last night.

The Lions stymied the Blazers’ play-patterns with a pressing defense early while scoring in bunches in transition to dominate a surprisingly lackluster St. Benilde side, which never lost more than two points until it dropped a 64-68 decision to Perpetual Help last Sept. 12.

The Lions went on a 17-0 blitz and closed out the opening quarter at 25-2 en route to their league best 11th win against two losses. The Letran Knights slid to second with a 10-2 (win-loss) record while the Altas remained at No. 3 with a 10-3 mark.

Art dela Cruz fired 14 points, pulled down seven rebounds and made four steals for the Red Lions, who were never threatened till the end.

The two first quarter points, which came from the free throw line after St. Benilde missed all its 15 attempts from the field, was the lowest output in a quarter this season and in recent memory.

The Blazers fell to seventh spot with a 5-8 mark.

Earlier, rookie Jaymar Perez dished out a solid double-double effort as undermanned San Sebastian College trounced Lyceum, 58-53, to firm up its hold of the fourth spot.

Perez erupted for a career-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting and hauled down 11 rebounds as the Stags bucked the absence of several key players to notch their eighth win against five losses.

That put  SSC two-and-a-half games ahead of the fifth running Jose Rizal U and Emilio Aguinaldo College (5-7) heading to the homestretch of the double-round elimination round.

Injured Bradwyn Guinto and ailing Jon Kervin Ortuoste failed to see action while Leo de Vera served out his one-game suspension but the Stags still came out smoking to seize double-digit leads in the first half before weathering the Pirates’ series of rallies down the stretch.

“CJ (Perez) just stepped up big when we needed him to in this game,” said San Sebastian coach Topex Robinson.

Shane Ko, combining with Cameroonian Aziz Mbomiko and Dexter Zamora, buried a triple and hit two pressure-packed free throws as Lyceum closed to within, 53-55, with 25 seconds to go.

But the Pirates failed to cash in on their chances with Mbomiko missing a potential game-tying triple in the dying seconds.

The loss sent Lyceum to the brink with a 4-9 card.

The Stags dominated the first half, building a 36-20 cushion at the end of the break. But the Pirates went on a 17-3 blast in the pivotal third and threatened at 37-39 late in the period.

However, four straight points by team captain Jovit dela Cruz and a jumper by Ranimark Tano with less than a second left in the quarter pushed San Sebastian’s lead back to 45-37.