Guetteng, Momowei catch fire in UCAL opener

Orlando Guetteng of Diliman College and foreign-student athlete Precious Momowei of Centro Escolar University (CEU) shared the limelight on the opening day of the PG Flex-Universities and Colleges Athletic League Season 8 basketball tournament on Thursday at the Paco Arena.

Coming off the bench, Guetting made a three-point basket in a wondrous catch-and-shoot play, barely two seconds left to lift the Blue Dragons to a pulsating 74-73 win over Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas and produce one of the highlights of the day.

The 6-foot-9 Momowie looked very comfortable at his new home as he helped power the Scorpions to a convincing 64-47 win over Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas.

Putting behind a forgettable 0-14 stint with University of the East in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines last season, Momowei produced 15 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks — numbers expected from him as the Mendiola-based CEU sent a strong warning in its desire to regain the title it lost last year.

Reigning titlist Olivarez College also prevailed over Immaculada Concepcion College (ICC), 68-65, but not after encountering some precarious moments just like what University of Batangas experienced in beating the surprisingly strong Philippine Women’s University, 67-59.

But the day belonged to Guetting.

With Diliman facing the prospect of a painful defeat, the two-time champions went to Guetting and the shooting guard delivered, making the clutch play to ignite a wild celebration.

That three-point basket was Guetting’s second for the day to finish with six points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field in nearly 12 minutes of action.

Leonard Marana led Diliman with 25 points, spiked by three triples, while FSA Solomon Kone and Matthew Calilong added 15 and 11 points, respectively.