NCAA: Stags escape past pesky Blazers to stay unscathed

Days after playing true to form, defending champion San Sebastian played like a lowly team which barely escaped past a cellar-dwelling squad. The Stags played on and off against the St. Benilde Blazers and luckily preserved an unimpressive 75-74 win Monday in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan. The Stags established a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead, 68-51, inside the final five-minute mark, but saw their big advantage wiped out by a pesky Blazers squad seeking a gigantic upset. "I don't know what happened to them," said San Sebastian coach Ato Agustin. "It seems that in our game against JRU, they showed with a lot of energy and in this game there wasn't any energy shown. Maybe, there was also a case of overconfidence." Disaster nearly struck on the Recto-based dribblers, who needed the combined efforts of Pamboy Raymundo, Calvin Abueva and Ronald Pascual to stretch their streak to six games. Mark de Guzman’s triple shoved the Blazers to within 71-74, with only 13 seconds left. The Blazers have a chance to bolster their chances further when they fouled Del Rio, who missed both charities. But he was able to grab the rebound and was fouled again. Del Rio split his charities to ensure the Stags’ win before De Guzman made a buzzer-beating trey for the final tally. Raymundo finished with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes, but turned the ball over six times. Abueva had 12 points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes off the bench while Pascual added 10 markers. Gilbert Bulawan chipped in seven points and nine boards. Lastimosa, hounded by foul trouble all game long, still finished with a game-high 20 points while De Guzman added 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. St Benilde suffered its third straight defeat for a 1-3 record. - RCJ, GMANews.TV