College of St. Benilde may have forced a do-or-die game with San Beda in the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball semifinals, but coach Charles Tiu didn’t seem too pleased.
The Blazers outlasted the Red Lions, 77-75, in Game 2 of their semis series at Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, but they barely pulled it off.
After all, the Red Lions played without star scorer Agjanti Miller, who sat out Friday’s game due to a knee contusion. He’s currently listed as day-to-day.
‘I’m not going to lie, I told them Miller’s not playing. If we waste this opportunity, it’s like wasting a gift,’ Tiu said.
‘We still, however, emphasized that even without Miller they can beat us with the way they and we are playing.’
Just because Miller stayed on the sidelines, though, didn’t mean the Blazers had an easy time forcing a rubber match.
In fact, Benilde wasn’t able to contain the guard tandem of Nygel Gonzales and Bryan Sajonia with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Ian Torres had to take matters into his own hands, sinking the buzzer-beating floater.
Still, Tiu was satisfied with how the Blazers responded from their Game 1 beating from the Red Lions, 91-72.
‘We asked them to fight and they did our jobs today. We weren’t the same Benilde team that we were in the first game.’
‘Today, we were able to execute things a bit better and we were able to go home with the win.’
Benilde and San Beda face off one last time for the final ticket to the NCAA championship round on Sunday at Araneta Coliseum.