By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
After two long decades, the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Blazers finally returned to the Final Four of the Philippines National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament.
The men in green and white pulled off a courageous fightback and took down the San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R), 83-78, to formally clinch their seat in the NCAA Final Four.
Benilde found themselves in early trouble after SSC-R opened the game with their waxing-hot shooting from the field.
After a couple of three-pointers and back-to-back layups, SSC-R suddenly went up by 13 points which forced Benilde to call a timeout.
Benilde head coach Charles Tiu’s crucial timeout then paid off dividends as his wards quickly recovered from the game and refused to enter the second half with a double-digit deficit.
The Blazers’ balanced offensive attack then haunted the SSC-R hoopers and went more consistent in the last four minutes of the game.
Superstar Will Gozum had a performance to remember after leading the Blazers in the crucial stretch and ended the game with 25 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and two steals.
Backstopping Gozum for Benilde is Miggy Corteza who finished the duel with efficient shooting and contributed 18 big points.
“It feels great, to be honest. It’s one of the goals we had this season, especially since not a lot of people expected us to be in the Final Four,” said Benilde head coach Charles Tiu.
The Blazers had their last NCAA Final Four appearance on September 2002 after the school took down the Philippine Christian University for the spot.
For coach Tiu, settling for the Final Four won’t be the main goal for this year’s Benilde squad but a trip to the grand finals will make all of their hard work sweeter.
“I hope we can still go farther. Right now I’ll be honest, we want to target the top two spots if we can get it. Alam naman natin yung advantage na yun,” added Tiu.
