Centro Escolar University and defending champion Olivarez College continued their dominant runs, keeping themselves on a collision course in the PGFlex-UCAL Season 8 Basketball Tournament on Monday at the Paco Arena.
Banking on a third-quarter surge, the CEU Scorpions crushed the Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas Dolphins, 80-67, securing their seventh straight victory in as many games and maintaining their lead atop the nine-team tournament.
Hot on their heels are the Olivarez Sea Lions, who notched their sixth consecutive win with a 79-66 rout of the Manila Central University Supremos, powered by another stellar performance from Hanz Maycong.
Meanwhile, two-time champion Diliman College snapped an alarming three-game skid with a 74-63 triumph over the University of Batangas, while Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas handed Philippine Women’s University a reality check with a 72-58 drubbing.
The PWU Patriots came into the game riding the momentum of a thrilling 74-73 victory over Immaculada Concepcion College exactly a week ago, a win that ended a 27-game losing streak spanning three seasons.
They led 14-13 after the first quarter, but the game dramatically shifted in the second quarter as the Pirates leveraged their size and physicality to dominate, building a 42-28 advantage. PWU never recovered and fell to their fifth loss in six starts, while PCU-D improved to 3-3.
Four CEU players scored in double figures, but Mark Sarza stood out with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
Precious Momowei, a transferee from the University of the East, contributed his sixth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
For Diliman College, 6-foot-8 foreign student-athlete Solomon Kone delivered a monster performance, posting 33 points on 12-of-18 shooting and hauling in 22 rebounds as the Blue Dragons climbed to a tie with the Dolphins for third place.
