FilOil: CSB Blazers get big victory, keep UP Maroons winless

After a rough start in his first year as head coach of the College of Saint Benilde Blazers, Gabby Velasco finally secured a feel-good win against University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons mentor Manny Dandan, as the Blazers torched the Maroons 74-49, on Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Mark Romero scored 25 points in 25 minutes to pace his Blazers, who led by 20 points or more for most of the game. Center JR Ongteco and reserve guard Luis Sinco added 10 apiece.

The game ended bitterly for the Maroons, as the two coaches were given technical fouls after arguing over a late timeout that Velasco called.

“Nakabaon na nga tapos tatawag ka pa ng time-out. Alam kong wala kang intensyon, pero masama ang epekto”, said Commissioner Ato Badolato of Velasco, whom he admonished after Dandan and his boys left the playing court.

Benilde shot 39 percent for the entire game while emptying the end of their bench as early as the third quarter. They also limited the Maroons to 25 percent field goal shooting. The Blazers similarly out-rebounded the Maroons  54 rebounds to 43, en route to their first FilOil win this year.

The Blazers made it to 1-3 in the standings, while the Maroons slide down further in Group A with a 0-3 card.

Velasco started Fons Saavedra, RJ Argamino, Mark Romero, Paulo Taha, and JR Ongteco, while Dandan went with a five of Raul Soyud, Chris Ball, Julius Wong, Sam Marata, and Mikee Reyes.

The Blazers got off to a hot start, as masked man Mark Romero exploded for 13 points in the first quarter. After an elbow jumper by UP forward Julius Wong, the Blazers went on a 14 to nothing run, capped by a Romero lay-in, 20-4. A split by Marata stopped the bleeding for the Maroons, but the veteran Romero kept knifing through UP’s front court, scoring another four points.

The Maroons failed to score in the last two minutes of the first while the Blazers managed four straight, including free throws that raised the Blazers’ lead to 21 points. UP settled for long-range jumpers, as Benilde’s defense denied easy entry passes to Soyud and Ball.

Mark Romero accounted for 15 of his team’s 28 first quarter points.

UP continued battling in the second quarter, but ended up fighting to keep the lead at a flat 20 points. The Maroons struggled finding the open shot, reacting slowly to pick and roll plays, while their younger wing players kept missing their perimeter attempts. Coach Velasco fielded seldom-used players like Alyson Carlos and Ralph Nayve in the line-up as his team was already up 22 when Nayve scored his first basket, 35-13. UP would cut their deficit to 19 with a triple by Moriah Gingerich, but those were three points which Romero would reclaim after drilling in his own triple, scoring his 18th point as the Blazers went up 38-16.

To add salt to the wound, UP forward Paolo Romero injured his right ankle and had to be carried off the court in a stretcher. The Maroons flattened the Blazers’ lead at 20 after a jumper by forward JR Gallarza, 43-23, but two consecutive baskets by Ongteco boosted the lead to 47-23 entering the second half.


The Blazers shot 50 percent from within the arc, making 13 out of their 26 shots, and shot 46 percent overall at the break. They out-rebounded the Maroons 25-19, and added 12 off 15 attempts from the charity stripe.

Romero scorched the Maroons’ defense for 18 points, going 2-for-3 on long-distance shots and four out of four from the free throw line. He was helped by Taha, who scored eight points.

The Maroons shot a dismal 28 percent in the first half, making only 8-of-29 shots. They also gave up nine miscues, which handed the Blazers nine points off turnovers.

Leading in the scoring department at the half were Ball and guard Henry Asilum, who had four points apiece, while Paul Desiderio and Gingerich both notched three points.

Benilde’s energy flowed through the third quarter, as a mixture of reserve players and starters kept the lead around 20 points. The Maroons had small pockets of resistance, which the Blazers offense easily quelled. The Blazers even went on a 9-0 stretch to up their advantage to 29 points, 64-35, capped off with a fast break lay-in by Saavedra. The third quarter ended at 67-40.

Twenty-five seconds into the fourth quarter, the Arena’s lights went out and the game was suspended for 10 minutes. When play resumed, the Blazers continued to protect their lead, which had ballooned to more than 20 points. Asilum missed a lay-in midway through the fourth, and it was emblematic of how the Maroons had played the entire game, as their shots continued to rim out in the last quarter.

The game ended on a sour note, as both head coaches were handed technical fouls after getting into a word war in the last minute of the quarter. A team official from UP said that Coach Dandan got irked when Coach Velasco called a last-minute timeout when they were already up big. The scoreboard read 74-49 by the end of regulation.

The Maroons shot poorly overall, making 17 of their 67 shots (25 percent). They missed all but 1-of-22 attempts from downtown. They also failed to convert well from the charity stripe, making 14 out of 27 tries (52 percent).

No one scored in double-digits for the Maroons. Ball led his side with nine points, Soyud added eight, and Asilim chipped in seven.

After another disappointing UAAP season, the Fighting Maroons have reloaded once more, boosted by the return of former UAAP Juniors MVP Joseph Marata (7.3 ppg in Season 73), Moriah Gingerich, and speedster Mikee Reyes, who missed the entirety of the last UAAP season due to a shoulder injury.

Marching in their youth movement are Kyle Suarez, a player from the RP Youth Team, Kyles Lao, a sharpshooter from Xavier School, Augustin Amar, a guard from Western Negros University, Paul Desiderio, a former CESAFI juniors MVP, Andrew Harris, a 6’5” Fil-American center, Jason Ligad, a guard from Saint Jude, and Andrei Paras, a former LSGH Greenie.

Marata has taken the scoring cudgels for his Maroons in their first two games, averaging 16 points per game on a 36 percent clip. With a wealth of guards, Coach Dandan has been using his slew of guards in a shifting rotation in both the FilOil and Fr. Martin Cup, but noticeable is big man Raul Soyud’s steady improvement. The center is averaging 10.5 points and eight rebounds in two games, while displaying improved mobility.

Benilde has yet to reap significant benefits from Filipino-Colombian Fons Saavedra, who came in two years ago to sit out his residency. In his first three starts, the 6’4” bruiser has averaged 7.3 points per outing, along with a flat five rebounds, while playing 28 minutes.

Mark Romero continues to lead the team in scoring with a flat 15 points per game in their first three games, with Taha, Grey, and Sinco all follow with nearly seven markers a game.

The Maroons continue their preseason campaign at 4pm on Saturday, May 11, against Terrence Romeo and the Far Easter University Tamaraws, while the Blazers seek to improve their record against Nick Omorogbe and the University of Perpetual Help Altas at 2:30pm on Wednesday, May 15. - CLP/AMD, GMA News


The scores:

CSB – Romero 25, Ongteco 10, Sinco 10, Taha 9, Grey 5, Nayve 4, Garcia 4, Argamino 3, Saavedra 2, Carlos 1, Castor 1, Sevilla 0, De Guzman 0, Mercado 0, Jonson 0, Lastimosa 0

UP – Ball 9, Soyud 8, Asilum 7, Reyes 4, Gallarza 4, Lao 4, Gingerich 3, Desiderio 3, Wong 2, Ligad 2, Marata 1, Suarez 1, Amar 0, Pascual 0, Romero 0, Harris 0, Paras 0

Quarter scoring: 28-7, 47-23, 67-40, 74-49