Altas, Blazers dispute No. 3

MANILA, Philippines - St. Benilde and Perpetual Help collide today for solo third place as the battle for the two other semifinal berths in the 90th NCAA men’s basketball tournament heats up at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Blazers edged the Jose Rizal Bombers, 71-69, last week to move up to third with a 10-5 record which the Altas matched by stunning the San Beda Lions, 76-75, and winning via forfeiture over the Emilio Aguinaldo Generals last Friday to tie the Bombers at 10-6.

San Beda and Arellano have secured the first two semis seats with 13-4 and 12-4 slates, respectively.

“We will treat our last three games as if they’re do-or-die games because every win counts at this stage,” said St. Benilde coach Gabby Velasco, who’s last two assignments will be against ousted Mapua on Oct. 4 and Letran on Oct. 8.

But Perpetual is also going all-out for a win, making their 4 p.m. clash a match to watch.

“If we want to make it to the Final Four, we need to win our last two games including this one against St. Benilde,” said Perpetual Help mentor Aric del Rosario in Pilipino.

The Blazers outlasted the Altas, 77-73, in their first round faceoff where the former rallied from seven points down in the last six minutes to snatch the win.

“We’ve got to learn from our past mistakes, including that one game where we just couldn’t hang on to victory,” said del Rosario.

Juneric Baloria actually could’ve send that match into overtime but missed two foul shots with 3.2 seconds, enabling the Blazers to score two more from the line.

While Baloria is again expected to lead Perpetual’s drive along with Harold Arboleda, Earl Thompson and Justine Alano, St. Benilde hopes to draw the best from top gun Jonathan Grey, Paolo Taha and Mark Romero as they go for the all-important win.