NCAA
Games on July 14
(The Arena, San Juan)
10 a.m. San Sebastian vs CSB-La Salle Greenhills (Jrs)
2 p.m. San Sebastian vs St Benilde (Srs)
Can College of Saint Benilde end continue its “unbeaten record”?
It’s doable. But then it can be done if the Blazers can hurdle defending champion San Sebastian as they continue their campaign in the 86th NCAA basketball tournament Wednesday at The Arena in San Juan.
Coming off a nine-day respite, St Benilde gets its first acid test of the season against the Stags, who are tied with San Beda for the lead with identical 3-0 slates.
The Blazers opened the season on a bright note when they beat Arellano, 70-64, last July 5.
In that contest, the backcourt duo of Mark de Guzman and Carlo Lastimosa and center Jan Tan provided the spark in beating the Chiefs.
That win enabled CSB to keep its unbeaten record, as jokingly said by coach Richard del Rosario.
Del Rosario is no stranger to witty remarks, having made his mark as a commentator for Philippine Basketball Association games on television.
The story of that “unbeaten record” comment started when he told that to a sportswriter due to the fact that St Benilde was the last team to make its NCAA debut.
But for the Blazers to win, they will have to play consistently against the Stags.
“This is a good time to play against them but against San Sebastian we have to be more mature in our game we don’t have to commit the same mistakes against Arellano because they’ll pound on your mistakes,” said del Rosario.
“I just hope that they take us lightly so we can keep the game close,” he added.
One thing del Rosario and his crew will have to watch out for is San Sebastian’s workhorse big man Calvin Abueva.
Abueva has been regarded as one of amateur basketball’s toughest players with his trademark hustle and aggressiveness.
“Abueva. Well how do you defend on Abueva? We’ll he took over from Jimbo Aquino although he’s not a shooter but he’s a tremendous scorer. I don’t know, maybe we should use two guys to stop him,” del Rosario added.
Meanwhile, CSB-La Salle Greenhills battles San Sebastian in the juniors division game at 10 a.m.
The Junior Blazers blasted Arellano in their season debut.
V-league
Game on July 15
(The Arena, San Juan)
4 p.m. St Benilde vs San Sebastian-Excelroof
College of Saint Benilde’s bid for a rousing start in the 7th Shakey’s V-League Second Conference after falling to debuting National University, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12, Sunday at The Arena in San Juan.
In a game that lasted one-hour and 55 minutes, the Lady Blazers failed to neutralize the Lady Bulldogs’ combo of Mervic Mangui and Maricar Nepumuceno to suffer a rough setback.
Mangui, the third leading scorer in last year’s UAAP season, had 26 points while Nepumuceno added 20. They got help from Elaine Sagun and new recruit Dindin Santiago with 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Veteran Giza Yumang paced CSB with 18 points while guest player Zharmaine Velez added 10 markers.
Cindy Optana and setter Renilyn Agero combined for 16 points in the loss.
The Lady Blazers next assignment will be on Thursday against San Sebastian-Excelroof, a team that crushed Lyceum last Sunday.
Revised Schedule: (all games at The Arena in San Juan)
Thursday, July 15: 4pm vs San Sebastian-Excelroof
Sunday, July 18: 2pm vs Far Eastern University
Sunday, July 25: 4pm vs Lyceum
Sunday, August 1: 2pm vs Adamson
Thursday, August 5: 4pm vs Ateneo
Sunday, August 8: 2pm vs Ateneo
