Diliman College closed out its first round campaign with a bang, trouncing newcomer Guang Ming College-Tagaytay, 87-60, in the 5th PG Flex Linoleum-Universities and Colleges Basketball League (UCBL) on Thursday at the Paco Arena in Manila.
With John Bernard Parista and Khalid Moumbagna at the helm, the Blue Dragons slowly but surely pulled away, taking a 43-30 halftime lead on the way to their fourth win in six games in the seven-team tournament.
In other games, Olivarez College picked its fourth win with a 100-75 drubbing of University of Batangas while Philippine Christian University-Dasmarinas improved its record to 2-3 with a 110-71 win over Lyceum-Batangas.
The Olivarez Sea Lions got big games from Redel Fabro (20), Edmund dela Cruz (14), and John Umali (14) to dismantle the Brahmans (3-3) and draw extra motivation in time for the showdown with league-leading Centro Escolar University (5-0).
The Dolphins, on the other hand, banked heavily on the 26-point and 16-rebound performance from Tita Ngufor Toscannie to score another lopsided win.
Parista buried seven triples on the way to 23 points besides delivering a little of everything with six rebounds and two assists. Diliman rebounded pretty well from a stinging 92-72 defeat to unbeaten CEU Scorpions last Monday.
Moumbagna was dominant in the shaded lane, logging 22 points and 18 rebounds.
So overpowering were the Blue Dragons that they hiked their lead to as much 38 points. Robbi Darang and Aldrin Ligon joined the scoring binge in the third frame.
The Pirates of Batangas finished the round without a win.
