ST. Benilde riding on 4-win run, Chiefs face streakin’ Blazers

MANILA, Philippines - Arellano U seeks to inch closer to leader San Beda while St. Benilde tries to stretch its amazing win run to five as they collide in today’s featured match in the 90th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.

The Chiefs edged the Letran Knights, 63-62, last Monday to improve to 6-2 (win-loss) with another win in their 4 p.m. duel with the resurgent Blazers pushing them half-a-game behind the Red Lions, who continue to lead the 10-team field with a 7-1 slate.

But the Blazers have emerged as the league’s hottest team, winning their last four games after dropping their first three, including a shock 86-77 win over the reigning four-peat champion Lions. That run put St. Benilde in joint fourth with Jose Rizal U and a skidding Perpetual Help.

“We can’t expect an easy game against a team that is coming off four straight victories. It will be a mistake if we do,” said Arellano U coach Jerry Codiñera, who has transformed the once-struggling team into one cohesive unit and a contender since taking over the reins early this year.

The Chiefs even shared the lead with the Lions two weeks ago before settling down to their current post at No. 2, 2 1/2 games over the Blazers, the Bombers and the Altas. 

Against St. Benilde, Arellano is again expected to work on its fluid offensive game that has made the Chiefs the best so far with 84.5 points norm, the only team to break the 80-point mark.

Codinera, however, said it will still be defense that will decide the outcome of their match against St. Benilde.

“We have to contain their top three scorers,” said Codinera referring to the prolific troika of Mark Romero, Juan Paolo Taha and Jonathan Grey, who have been averaging a combined 40-plus points or about two-thirds of their team’s output.

Romero, Taha and Grey have indeed taken charge for the Blazers, particularly during crunch time, making it doubly hard for Codinera to contain them all at the same time.

“More important is the respect we’re getting after we won four straight and the team is feeling great about it,” said St. Benilde mentor Gabby Velasco.

Like St. Benilde, Jose Rizal is also looking to sustain its run, including a 99-98 triple overtime win over Arellano last week, as it faces off with Emilio Aguinaldo at 2 p.m.

“The guys are starting to learn but we still have room for improvement,” said Jose Rizal coach Vergel Meneses.