Robert Bolick put on a scoring clinic in the third quarter as San Beda overpowered Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC), 76-57, on Thursday to continue to haunt unbeaten leader Lyceum of the Philippines University in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors’ basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Bolick erupted with 12 of his 20 points in the third quarter when the Red Lions turned a close game into a rout.
It was the reigning back-to-back champion’s sixth consecutive win and 12th overall against a loss. They stood half a game behind the unscathed Pirates.
The Generals succumbed to their 10th loss against two wins.
Allyn Bulanadi, meanwhile, unleashed his best scoring game as San Sebastian College turned back a stubborn Jose Rizal University, 82-75, to remain in the Final Four hunt.
Bulanadi, 21, finished with a career-high 27 points, including 10 in the first quarter, when the Stags raced to a fast 23-9 start and eight in the final period when they overcame repeated comebacks by the Heavy Bombers to nail their third consecutive win and fourth overall against nine setbacks.
The win resuscitated the Stags’ dying Final Four bid but they have to sweep their last five games to stay in contention.
The Heavy Bombers fell to their 11th setback against two triumphs and are out of the race.
Jerry Codinera, meanwhile, resigned as Arellano University coach after the Chiefs could only win four of 11 games so far in the season.
Junjie Ablan will take over on the interim basis. He was the Chiefs’ first coach when the school joined the league in 2009 as a guest team.
Codinera went 52-31 in four-and-a-half seasons with the Chiefs that was highlighted by finals stints in 2013 and 2015.