College St. Benilde outgunned a Giovani Jalalon-less Arellano University, 106-97, to regain its place inside the magic four in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City on Saturday.
Juan Paolo Taha and Mark Romero came through with all-around efforts while Jeffrey Ryan Ongteco and Raphael Romeo Nayve provided some bench help as the Blazers jumped from fifth to fourth spot with a 9-5 (win-loss) record while shoving the Perpetual Help Altas from No. 4 to No. 5 with an 8-5 card.
Taha finished four assists away from a triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while Romero, the team captain, had 23 points, eight boards, four assists and three steals to pace the Blazers.
It was, however, Ongteco and Nayve who provided the spark with the former churning out a career-high effort of 19 points and the latter firing 13, most of it coming in the third quarter when St. Benilde charged back from a double-digit deficit.
"We can't do it without the contributions of the other guys," said Taha, who hopes he and Romero get signed by KIA Motors in the coming PBA season.
St. Benilde coach Gabby Velasco said the key was limiting Arellano U's outside shooting while beating them from the foul line.
The Blazers attempted more from the free throw area with 39 making 27 while the Chiefs made 17 trips there and connected on just 13.
St. Benilde forced Arellano U to miss 16 of the 26 shots from beyond the arc while hitting half of its 22 tries.
"Arellano is the league's highest scoring team and one of the biggest reasons was their three-point shooting. And in this game, we took and prevented some of their three-point shots," said Velasco.
"We were also more aggressive in getting inside and drawing fouls," he added.
From solo second, Arellano U is now sharing it wiuth Jose Rizal after absorbing its fourth setback against nine wins.
San Beda remains atop the heap with a 10-2 card.
The Scores:
St. Benilde (106) -- Taha 27, Romero 23, Ongteco 19, Nayve 13, Grey 8, Bartolo 6, Sinco 5, Jonson 3, Pajarillaga 2, Saavedra 0.
Arellano (97) -- Holts 31, Nicholls 23, Agovida 14, Hernandez 10, Pinto 9, Ciriacruz 6, Gumaru 2, Enriquez 2, Salcedo 0, Caperal 0, Ortega 0, Cadavis 0.
Quarters: 20-28, 44-49, 71-71, 106-97.
