After a dismal first round campaign in the 86th NCAA basketball tournament, Saint Benilde coach Richard del Rosario hopes to a see a matured team come the league’s second round of hostilities. Although to see the Blazers beat Perpetual Help, 79-70, Monday to snap a six-game losing streak, del Rosario had one thing to say to his youthful squad. “The problem with them is they tend to celebrate too much,” said del Rosario.
An example of that came against the Altas when they took a 17-point lead in the second quarter before seeing that lead erase in a matter of minutes. However, CSB leaned on MC Abolucion, Carlo Lastimosa and Jan Tan to hack out a victory. That win enabled the green-and-black cagers to end the first round with two wins and six losses, the worst record at this point of the season since going 1-5 in the 2007 season.
St Benilde opened its season on a rousing note beating Arellano, 70-64, on July 5 behind the efforts of ex-RP U-18 standout Mark de Guzman, Lastimosa and Tan but has struggled since. Lastimosa, who played for Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City and Ateneo before transferring to St Benilde, not only led the team in scoring but the tournament as well, averaging 16.6 points per game to beat San Sebastian’s Calvin Abueva.
Although the play of the nephew of basketball legend Jojo Lastimosa impressed del Rosario, he wants to see a consistent performance from him, particularly during crunch time. “The thing about Carlo is that in the first half, he would score around 10 to 15 points but he’s disappearing in the second half,” del Rosario. “Hopefully, he would be productive when we need him the most.”
De Guzman, Lastimosa’s backcourt mate, tallied 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists while Tan led the team in rebounds with an average of 4.4 per game. Also contributing were Abolucion (5.0 points), Ian dela Paz (7.0 points, 3.1 rebounds) and former PCU Dolphin Timothy McCoy (5.9 points, 4.3 rebounds).
The Blazers make their second round debut on Monday against San Sebastian, which suffered an 88-76 loss to San Beda last Wednesday. Del Rosario is hoping that the Stags won’t make enough preparations in time for their match. “We hope that San Sebastian focused too much on its game against San Beda and perhaps even fatigue would set in after that game. Who knows, maybe we could come out and surprise them,” he said.
Second Round Schedule
Monday, August 23 – 2 p.m. vs San Sebastian
Friday, August 27 – 4 p.m. vs San Beda
Monday, August 30 – 2 p.m. vs Emilio Aguinaldo College
Friday, September 3 – 4 p.m. vs Mapua
Friday, September 10 – 4 p.m. vs Arellano
Wednesday, September 15 – 4 p.m. vs Jose Rizal University
Wednesday, September 22 – 2 p.m, vs Perpetual
Monday, September 27 – 2 p.m. vs Letran
