The De La Salle-College of St. Benilde sank the winless Jose Rizal University, 81-66, at the FilOil Flying VC Center in San Juan City.
TY Tang and his Blazers squad bounced back from a gripping 75-69 loss against defending champions San Beda Red Lions the previous week. Meanwhile, the Heavy Bombers move to compete against the Emilio Aguinaldo College in their quest for an elusive first win.
CSB now evened their record 2-2 for the NCAA Season 94 in the men’s basketball tournament.
“I still don’t think we played consistent today. There were a lot of unforced turnovers and play execution wasn’t all that well. But a win is a win,” Blazers coach TY Tang said in the post-game interview.
The closest JRU pulled close was, 28-25, with 4:23 left in the second period until a scuffle broke out between the two teams. Unique Naboa battered to secure the ball and was piled on by some members of the JRU squad.
JRU player Justin Padua was ejected by officials after being caught throwing punches in the wake of the incident. The Blazers proceeded to outscore the Heavy Bombers, 9-2, towards the end of the half to take a 58-45 lead.
The Mighty Sports-outfitted CSB never looked back in the second half as they went on to lead by a game-high 17 points in the fourth period.
Clement Leutcheu registered a double-double leading the Blazers with 20 points, missing only two attempts, and 14 rebounds. 6-foot-3 forward Yankie Haruna chipped in 15 points while guards Edward Dixon and Naboa added 10 points.
The Blazers shot a cool 48.38% from the field and did their most damage in the paint with 50 points against a smaller JRU team.
Jed Mendoza led the Heavy Bombers with 16 points, while missing all his seven 3-point attempts and committing a whopping 9 turnovers. The only other player registering double digits was Mark Mallari with 14 points.
