JOSE RIZAL University (JRU) used its vaunted air-tight defense to beat De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, 67-49, extending its winning streak to three in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) seniors’ basketball tournament on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
The Heavy Bombers, one of the toughest defensive teams in the league, limited the Blazers to single-digit scoring in the second (eight) and third (nine) periods to set the tone for their biggest lead of 25 points, 58-33, early in the final quarter.
Guard Teytey Teodoro again provided the much-needed scoring punch with 21 points on nine-of-14 shooting that went with his eight rebounds, and three steals in the contest. Ervin Grospe tallied nine points, while Abdel Poutouchi and Cris Jordan de la Paz added seven markers apiece for the Heavy Bombers.
JRU improved to 3-2 (won-lost), while Saint Benilde fell to its third straight loss, its longest skid this season, for a 1-5 card.
Head Coach Vergel Meneses said his wards again exuded the energy that made them recover from back-to-back losses.
“We got our energy back to go back to our defensive schemes. Ang malaking bagay doon is nag-take charge si Teytey [Teodoro],” Meneses said. “Ang sinsabi ko sa kanila is when we hold our opponents down below 70 points, we have a big chance of winning. We’ve been playing great defense as of late.”
JR Ongteco and Fons Saavedra led Saint Benilde with 10 points apiece. Jonathan Grey was shackled to just six points.
San Beda College Taytay pulled off an 85-61 victory over Perpetual Help for its sixth straight victory, while La Salle Greenhills routed JRU, 86-47, to improve to 3-3 in the juniors division.
Image credits: Kevin de la Cruz