De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde missed one of its key weapons in its biggest game so far in NCAA Season 101.
This as Raffy Celis was rushed to the hospital just before the tip-off of the Blazers' Final Four opener against San Beda University on Tuesday, leaving Benilde with an undermanned lineup against the top-seeded Red Lions.
"Raffy Celis was brought to the ER right before the game. All of a sudden we had to change our lineup," Benilde head coach Charles Tiu told reporters.
Celis' presence was greatly missed as the Blazers went on to bow to the Red Lions in a 91-72 loss that allowed San Beda to move on cusp of a return to NCAA finals.
Without Celis, Ian Torres and Shawn Umali carried the fight for Benilde with 18 and 13 points as reigning MVP Allen Liwag and Tony Ynot were held to just seven and four markers, respectively.
But Tiu isn't using this as an excuse as they now turn their focus on Game 2 in bid to extend the series and force a sudden death.
"It’s a good thing it’s a best-of-three series, right? We have a series and we can make adjustments. Obviously, our game plan was to stop Miller and Sajonia. We tried to prepare," Tiu added.
"But two great players made some shots and we were just flat. They killed us. We tried to do everything. But they found a way to score. We were just out of it from the start. No excuses. Some bad luck, though."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
