San Sebastian star Rafael ‘Paeng’ Are’s offensive showcase against Benilde went for naught as they lost to the Blazers in a Sunday slugfest that saw the high-scoring guard go down bloodied due to an inadvertent elbow.

The October 13 game took a serious pause at the 5:03 mark in the third quarter following a physical sequence between Mark Sangco and Paeng, where the latter was seen bleeding from his upper lip after taking a heavy hit to the face. 

The incident occured in the middle of San Sebastian’s mini-rally that cut the Blazers’ advantage from nine to four, 58-54. 

During a defensive possession, Are tried to close out on Sangco who would then drive hard to the baseline to evade the his defense.

Sangco extended his off-arm in an attempt to create more separationm, which unfortunately landed straight on Are’s face.

The 5-foot-7 San Sebastian guard immediately fell to the floor as he clasped his bloodied lips while being attended by the medical staff.

Sangco, in turn, was tagged with an unsportsmanlike foul due to “excessive, hard contact caused by a player in an attempt to play the ball or an opponent.”

Are, after getting his injured lip iced while resting more minutes than usual, checked back in during the fourth quarter and continued his scoring explosion, finishing with 29 points on 10/22 field goal shooting to go along with seven rebounds and two dimes in a losing effort. 

In the end, the Blazers would hang on and prevent another San Sebastian fightback, 91-85.