Luis Sinco turned it up in the third period to lead De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde past the seven-man Mapua Institute of Technology dribblers, 87-76, in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 90 seniors basketball on Monday at The Arena in San Juan City.

Sinco, playing in his final season, scored all of his 11 points during the third period, including a buzzer-beating layup, to push their lead to 14, 66-52, and overturned Mapua’s comback bid earlier in the quarter.

Jonathan Grey exploded with 19 points on five-for-nine shooting with six rebounds, and four assists in 18 minutes on the floor. Paolo Taha added 18 markers and six rebounds, while Fons Saavedra fired 13 markers for the Blazers.

Their win – pushing their mark to 11-6 (won-lost) – kept their Final Four bid alive, and makes their final game against Letran College a must-win to force a do-or-die contest with University of Perpetual Help for fourth place.

Benilde Head Coach Gabby Velasco said that his squad was successful in getting the much-needed win, but his players failed to execute their plays to the T.

“We badly needed this victory for us to be alive, to stay in contention sa Final Four. The job is not over yet, because we have to survive Letran on Wednesday,” said Velasco

“Today, I don’t think my team played that great. Mark [Romero] had a bad game today. Good thing Paolo [Taha] and [Jonathan] Grey was able to deliver. But I expected Mark to perform more than he did today,” he added.

“We were not running our game plan properly. There was an intention to run, but it was not with the right people. The spots are not filled in, we were not able to run our breaks properly. On Wednesday, we have to change and correct that. Otherwise, it may probably be a game that we might regret.”

Exeqiel Biteng topped all scorers with 23 markers on eight-for-13 shooting. Justin Serrano contributed 17, and Jerome Canaynay adding 12 to their cause in their final game of the season.

The Cardinals finish with a 4-14 record, tying Emilio Aguinaldo College for last place at season’s end.