BY ABBY TORALBA
AN NCAA title remains elusive for College of St. Benilde but the goal to reach the Promised Land stays.
The fourth seeded Blazers failed in their bid to return to the finals in the 99th season basketball tournament after dropping a 67-78 loss to the No. 1 Mapua University Cardinals last Tuesday in their Final Four clash.
CSB coach Charles Tiu admitted they were disappointed but remained upbeat despite the defeat.
“To be honest, I think it’s a disappointing season. I did tell the guys you know, to make the Final Four is an achievement. Let’s not forget CSB, before the last two years, where they came from, they never made the Final Four, they’re always the laughing stock,” Tiu said. “I told the guys I was proud that somehow I am slowly changing the culture of CSB, to make it to the Final Four is not an easy thing.
“It’s so competitive here but obviously to me, I consider the failure on my part. My goal straight up was to win the championship, I felt that we had a great chance. I still feel we have a really good team, the best pieces. It falls on me. I don’t think I did a great job this year to get them to play to their potential. I told them that I’m the one to blame for this but that’s basketball for you,” he added.
Among those who sang their swan song for the Blazers were Will Gozum, Miggy Corteza, Robi Nayve, and Felipe Marasigan.
Allen Liwag, Tony Ynot, Justine Sanchez and Gab Cometa are expected to be eligible for CSB next season after serving a one-year residency.
“The good thing is I still have a few vets I’d like to think of coming in and I still have a few young players here so we just have to find a way to get them to play together,” Tiu said.
“I felt this team have a lot of talent but we never really got to play together and be solid as a team and talent will always win you games, but if you don’t play as a team, if you’re chemistry isn’t solid, I don’t think you’ll go far anyways but my response is I have to find a way to make sure everybody will play together and make sacrifices.”
