Manuel soars, powers Sea Lions

High-leaping forward Bryan Manuel fired 18 points and helped power reigning titlist Olivarez College to a 65-56 win over Philippine Women’s University in the PG Flex-Universities and Colleges Athletic League (UCAL) Season 8 men’s basketball tournament on Monday at the Paco Arena in Manila.

A big letdown in the team’s 68-65 win over Immaculada Concepcion College (ICC) in the opener last week, Manuel played true form this time, outsmarting and overpowering his defenders to finish with 6-of-10 shooting apart from posting five rebounds and two assists in almost 27 minutes of play.

Foreign student-athlete Hakim Njiasse made up for his woeful 0-4 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 from the free throw area by grabbing 17 boards which proved enough for the Sea Lions to overpower the Patriots in that department, 55-36.

Also posting their second win in as many games were former champions Centro Escolar University (CEU) and Diliman College.

Banking on another double-double performance from new recruit Precious Momowei and Christ Jay Singson, the CEU Scorpions demolished the ICC Blue Hawks, 89-65, while the Diliman Blue Dragons downed the Manila Central University Supremos, 83-74.

A transferee from nearby University of the East, the 6-foot-9 Momowei tallied 16 points and 14 boards, while Singson registered 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

But the day’s top performer was Diliman’s foreign student-athlete in Solomon Kone who tallied 24 points, 18 boards and three assists. He got solid support from Matthew Calilong and Leonard Marana, who chipped in 15 and 14 points, respectively.

In the other game, Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas (PCU-D) bounced back from a painful 73-74 defeat to Diliman by outlasting Lyceum-Batangas, 72-71, thanks to the steady shooting of JayR Pronda and John Carl Catayong.

Catayong led all PCU-D scorers with 13 points while Pronda added 12, including two pressure-packed charities in the waning moments of the game.