THE College of St. Benilde Blazers will need to get their acts together when they meet the Mapua Cardinals in Game 2 of the 100th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball finals on Saturday, 2:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Last Sunday, the Cardinals coasted to an 84-73 demolition of the Blazers in Game 1 at the same venue.
“We know what we’re supposed to do, we just didn’t do the job of doing it, so we have to make sure that we’re focused and don’t let the big moment get to the players because that really was the problem for us,” said Blazers’ coach Charles Tiu.
Tiu spoke about their performance, moments after after the Cardinals took the momentum, going into their second game of their best-of-three finals affair on Saturday.
The Blazers played an error-prone game, committing 23 turnovers, which was off their average of just 15.72.
The Cardinals, led by Clint Escamis, capitalized on the Blazers’ turnovers as they converted 34 points from this.
“Basically, we gave them the game. They outworked us,” added Tiu.
Both squads are hungry, with the Cardinals out to end a 33-year title drought, while the Blazers are seeking to get past a 24-year dry spell.
Escamis put up a big show in Game 1 with 30 points and Tiu knows that they need to stop him.
“Clint Escamis was great as always. It was a tough game for us, I guess the guys were a bit nervous as this is their first time in the finals, so hopefully we can be better next game,” added Tiu.
