De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde again banked on their duo of Will Gozum and Robi Nayve as they took care of business against Emilio Aguinaldo College, 78-68, in the NCAA Season 97 men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday at the La Salle Green Hills Gym.
Gozum finished with another double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds while Nayve also scored 18 — eight coming in the fourth quarter — as they led CSB to the win.
The Blazers made it three wins in a row as they moved up to 3-1 in the standings while knocking the Generals down to 1-3.
CSB went to Gozum early and often as he scored eight points in the opening period. His efforts allowed the Blazers to take the advantage 21-14 at the end of one.
The Saint Benilde big man continued his stellar play in the second period, though EAC battled back behind Ralph Robin and Allen Liwag to make it a two-point game, 38-36, at the half.
Gozum had 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting at the break while Robin led EAC with 11 markers.
In the third, Benilde made a couple of late runs that allowed them to seize control of the game.
Nayve hit a three-pointer that kickstarted an 8-3 mini-run that gave the Blazers a 51-43 lead. EAC then battled back to cut the deficit down, but Miggy Corteza and Prince Carlos combined to score the last five points of the period as CSB opened up a double-digit lead, 58-48, heading into the fourth quarter.
Robin tried to bring his team back in the final period as they closed back to within five points.
But Nayve helped put the game away as he scored all of the Blazers’ points in an 8-2 run that made it a double-digit lead 75-64 with about two minutes left in the game.
Saint Benilde will be back in action against the Perpetual Altas on Saturday while EAC will have a chance to bounce back on the same day when they take on JRU.
The scores:
CSB 78 – Nayve 18, Gozum 18, Marcos 10, Carlos 10, Corteza 6, Publico 6, Benson 6, Sangco 2, Mosqueda 2, Cullar 0, Lim 0, Lepalam 0, Flores 0.
EAC 68 – Robin 21, Luciano 13, Liwag 10, Doria 8, Maguliano 6, Taywan 3, Cosejo 3, Cadua 2, Bunyi 2, Cos 0, Quinal 0.
Quarters: 21-14, 38-36, 58-48, 78-68
—JMB, GMA News
