For the first time in 20 years, the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde finished the elimination round in the top four as the Blazers racked up five wins against four losses in the NCAA Season 97.
Unfortunately, though, with the new league format, the Blazers had to hurdle the play-in round in order to move on to the Final Four. In their first assignment against San Beda University, CSB stumbled to absorb a 63-57 defeat.
The struggling Blazers then had to face streaking University of Perpetual Help System DALTA in another do-or-die, which they lost on Wednesday in a 76-64 defeat.
And CSB head coach Charles Tiu is disappointed that they could have ended a 20-year Final Four drought if not for the new tournament format.
"Nung start ng season tinatanong ako kung gusto ko 'tong play-in, sabi ko 'Let's see'. Ngayon, ayoko na ng play-in," Tiu quipped.
"Mahirap talaga. We struggled, first we lost to San Beda and they're really a good team naman [but] unfortunately, we had to fall into this play-in and nagkataon na we're without one of our key players."
Tiu, a first time coach in the NCAA, said it was actually his goal to bring the Blazers back to the Final Four for the first time since 2002, or in Season 78, where Benilde finished the elimination with a 10-4 card for the second spot.
They eventually advanced to the finals round that time but lost to San Sebastian College-Recoletos in two games.
This year, Tiu assembled a team that featured players like Will Gozum, Robi Nayve, and AJ Benson, who was unavailable in CSB's season-ending loss as he served a one-game suspension for accumulating two unsportsmanlike fouls in their previous game
Still, the Blazers came up short.
"To be honest, I really want to make the Final Four already this year but obviously, the short preparation hurts but my goal is maybe in the next two years, we can really make a run not just for the Final Four but for the championship," Tiu added.
"I think we have a lot of work to do, a lot of improvement to do, and again I'm just a bit disappointed with how the season ended for us."
—JMB, GMA News
