COLLEGE of Saint Benilde leaned on JJ Domingo’s season-best effort as it downed Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC), 84-71, on Tuesday to get back into the thick of things in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Domingo, who averaged 2.2 points entering the game, found his rhythm and sizzled with 22 points that easily surpassed his previous season-best 10 points and helped the Blazers end a two-game slide for a 3-4 won-lost card.
“We’re alive again and we hope this win gives us momentum entering our final two first-round games,” said Saint Benilde Coach TY Tang, whose wards clash with Arellano University on Friday and University of Perpetual Help on August 24.
Domingo delivered the crucial points as the fourth-year guard poured in eight fourth-quarter points to quash EAC’s repeated rallies.
“We know he [Domingo] can score and it’s just a matter of patience. I hope he continues to dish out this kind of games,” Tang said.
The Blazer, however, would miss Clement Leutcheu in their next game after the Cameroonian was ejected for two technical fouls, the last for figuring in a shoving match with EAC’s Juju Bautista midway in the last quarter. An ejection means an automatic one-game suspension.
The Generals found their two-game streak snapped and skid to 2-5.