Manila Central University finally broke into the win column, while Centro Escolar University and defending champion Olivarez College extended their hot streaks in the PGFlex-UCAL Season 8 Basketball Tournament on Thursday at the Paco Arena.
Led by Seanne Devon General, the well-balanced Supremos of Caloocan outlasted Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas, 97-90, ending a four-game losing streak to start their campaign.
In his best outing so far, General recorded a double-double with 17 points—including two triples—13 rebounds, and four assists.
He received ample support from Darrel Garcia, Daniel Santelices, and RJ Tadeo, who added 15, 14, and 12 points, respectively, many of them coming at the height of PCU-D’s desperate comeback attempt.
The loss snapped PCU-D’s three-game winning streak, leaving them at 3-2 in the team standings.
Meanwhile, the CEU Scorpions streaked to their sixth win after edging the Diliman College Blue Dragons, while the Olivarez Sea Lions narrowly defeated Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, 63-60, remaining second in the standings with a perfect 5-0 record.
Immaculada Concepcion College improved to 2-4 with a 110-99 victory over the University of Batangas in the event, supported by Akari, Advance Solutions Inc., Smart Sports, Spalding, Quintana Sports, Crane Faucet, Hapee Toothpaste, CafeFrance, Vital, TopFlite Academy, Maruyama, Gerry’s Grill, Mighty Bond, and Undfitd Sportswear.
Christ Jay Singson and Kurt Russel Miranda led CEU in scoring with 13 points each, but it was Abraham Apugi Takpiny who delivered in the clutch.
Takpiny scored four of his eight points in the final 28 seconds, including a driving layup that put CEU ahead for good, 75-74.
For the Sea Lions, Hakin Njiasse and Hanz Maycong starred once again, contributing 16 and 12 points, respectively.
