De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde assistant coach Paolo Layug admitted that the Blazers got relaxed late in the game as they wasted a 25-point advantage en route to a 100-94 win over San Sebastian College-Recoletos on Wednesday.
The Taft side built a lead as high as 25, 79-54, after Miggy Corteza sank both of his free throws in the third frame. That advantage, though, was trimmed to as little as five, 99-94, inside the final minute.
Benilde needed Will Gozum to clean up a missed triple from Migs Oczon before the bruiser sank a free throw to seal the deal.
"I think in the fourth quarter we relaxed, we had a really big lead and there's a tendency I guess that when you're up big, you're thinking that the game's gonna be over and you're just trying to run the clock," said Layug, who took up the coaching mantle for this game in the absence of head coach Charles Tiu, who was not feeling well.
"And San Sebastian got some stops and we had some bad shots, and obviously we fouled a lot."
Luckily, Benilde was able to establish a huge lead early on with Oczon firing 20 of his overall output in their third quarter barrage. During that stretch, the star transferee fired three three-pointers as the Blazers held an 81-62 cushion to end the canto.
Romel Calahat and Kenneth Villapando joined forces to rally the Stags, but their attempt fell short.
"(Oczon) had a lot of free throws, I think that's what got him going because he was fouled in a three-point shot and then he hit another three free throws in a row so that's what got him going."
—JMB, GMA News
