College of St. Benilde averted a second half collapse as it leaned on the career game from Miggy Corteza to fend off a furious comeback attempt from University of Perpetual Help and take an 83-73 victory in the NCAA Season 97 yesterday at the La Salle Green Hills Gym in Mandaluyong.
The Blazers used a second quarter assault to build a 23-point lead before banking on the timely hits from Corteza and AJ Benson to weather a huge Altas storm that cut the lead down to single digit late in the fourth.
Corteza unloaded a career-high 24 points with 11 boards while Benson poured all of his 16 points in the second half to keep Benilde afloat in the face of the Perpetual rally.
"We just keep trusting our system. Coach Charles tells us to stick to our defensive principles, play together and put the team first over our personal agendas, iyan yung ginawa namin ngayon. We played as a team, we stuck together plus we got the win,” said Corteza.
Benilde notched its fourth straight win for the solo third in the standings with a 4-1 record but the Blazers don’t want to be complacent as they still haven’t won anything yet.
“It’s a good win pero but we have to keep improving kasi yung season matagal pa and this only the first good game na nalaro ko so we really have to keep moving forward and try not to be contented with this,” he added.
The Blazers were solid on the defensive end especially in the second quarter where they limited the Altas to just nine points while Corteza, Prince Carlos and Carlo Lim carried the scoring cudgels during a 14-4 blast that erected a 38-19 advantage late in the first half.
The Altas though came alive after the break as Jielo Razon, Cris Pagaran and Kim Aurin all conspired in the teams’ 28-point third quarter explosion that saw them cut the lead down to 11, 57-46 before Benson nailed two straight triples to restore order for the Blazers.
That still couldn’t stop Perpetual from rallying back as it broke through the double-digit barrier, 70-61 after a Razon layup midway through the final frame.
Corteza and Benson, however, had answers to every basket from Aurin and Razon down the stretch to keep the Altas at bay and secure the win.
Razon and Aurin provided the one-two punch for Perpetual with 23 and 16 points respectively but were not enough as they dropped to a 2-3 record in the standings.
The Scores:
CSB 83 -- Corteza 24, Benson 16, Nayve 14, Gozum 9, Carlos 9, Lim 5, Cullar 2, Marcos 2, Sangco 2, Davis 0, Lepalam 0, Flores 0.
Perpetual 73 -- Razon 23, Aurin 16, Egan 12, Pagaran 8, Omega 5, Barcuma 5, Boral 4, Cuevas 0, Abis 0, Martel 0, Sevilla 0, Nunez 0.
Quarters: 21-15, 46-24, 63-52, 83-73