University of Santo Tomas is the first team out of the UAAP Group to advance to the playoffs of the PlayTime Cares 18th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup presented by ABC Tile Adhesive after warding off University of the East, 71-65.
Kyle Paranada proved to be a thorn on the side of his former team, making it rain inside the Playtime Cares Filoil Centre on Wednesday with 24 points built on five triples on top of three steals.
“My teammates and coaches, they all trust me to shoot the ball, so that’s what I’m gonna do,” said Paranada, who delivered seven of his output in the last four minutes, just when the Red Warriors were battling back from an 11-point deficit.
As UE threatened at 60-62 at the 3:50 mark of the final frame, Paranada shot a three to detonate a 7-2 blast for a 69-62 edge with 16 ticks to go.
John Abate’s own trey again closed the Red Warriors to just down four, 65-69, only to see Paranada coolly convert a couple of charities to cap off the Growling Tigers’ rise to 4-1 in the tourney which has PlayTime Cares, Filoil, EcoOil, Hanes, Bostik El Heneral, Jiang Nan Hotpot, Lamtex Pipes, Smart, and Puso Pilipinas as major sponsors, and Harbor Star, Wallem, Akari, BDO, Tela.com Athletics, Nature’s Spring, Reyes Barbecue, and Brothers Burger as minor sponsors.
Black-and-gold skipper Nic Cabañero also got it going with 15 points and five boards, as prized rookie Koji Buenaflor chipped in 11 markers and seven rebounds.
For UE, which remained winless through five tries, Wello Lingolingo waxed hot with 27 points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, the NCAA quarterfinals cast is complete after Benilde brought on a 38-point beatdown of San Beda, 102-64.
The Blazers were firing on all cylinders, hitting 23 of their 46 two-point attempts and doing even better from beyond the arc at 57-percent. Tony Ynot hit four of their 15 triples and wound up with 12 points, six assists, and three rebounds.
Ernest Daja topped the scoring column with 13 points, as enforcer Shawn Umali also added 10 markers of his own for Benilde (6-1), which remains in a dogfight with Letran (7-1) and Emilio Aguinaldo College (6-1) for the NCAA top seed.
Earlier, Arellano scored its fifth win in a row to nose out reigning NCAA champion Mapua for the fourth playoff berth.
The Chiefs routed Jose Rizal University, 82-60, behind Maverick Vinoya’s 29 points, eight rebounds, and five steals.
CJ Libang then provided 18 markers and six boards, while T-Mc Ongotan contributed 11 points and six pilfers for 6-3 Arellano, which joins the Knights, Blazers, and Generals in the next round.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, were dealt a third straight defeat by Perpetual, 63-55.
The 5-4 Altas hammered hard on Mapua, going on a 10-3 run in the last five minutes thanks to Patrick Sleat with 13 points and four assists, while Josh Alcantara backstopped him with nine markers.
Mapua (4-5) was paced by Cyril Gonzales with 11 points, JRU (3-6) by Shawn Argente’s 24 markers, and San Beda (2-4) by Janti Miller’s 19 points.
