Mark Jade Sarza highlighted his 13-point explosion in the opening quarter with back-to-back triples to help Centro Escolar University (CEU) pull off a repeat over defending champion Olivarez College, 83-75, to formalize its claim of the top seeding in the semifinals of the PGFlex-Universities and Colleges Athletic League (UCAL) Season 8 basketball tournament on Thursday at the Paco Arena in Manila.

In a complete turnaround of their 84-81 win over the Sea Lions in the first phase of the elimination, the Scorpions — starring Sarza, Christ Jay Singson and Precious Momowei — led from the start to finish on the way to topping the two-part elims with a 10-1 card.

The Scorpions trailed the Sea Lions for most part of the game during their first meeting before the 6-foot-9 Momowei sparked a vicious 8-1 windup to prevail.

Despite the loss, the Sea Lions also advanced outright to the semis, and like the Scorpions, they will also enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage against their rival after posting a second-best mark of 8-3.

Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas and Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas ended up with similar 6-5 records but it was the former which took the No. 3 seeding due to the win-over-other-other rule.

In other games, Immaculada Concepcion College and University Batangas closed out their campaign on a high note with the former clobbering Manila Central University, 96-81, and the Brahmans outlasting the Philippine Women’s University Patriots, 78-74.

Behind the red-hot shooting of Sarza and Singson, the Scorpions roared to a 31-15 advantage at the close of the first quarter, a lead they valiantly protected in the face of Olivarez’s spirited rallies.

Sarza and Singson shared scoring honors with 17 points while Geric Canete and Momowei added 15 and 11 points with the latter falling short of two assists of completing a triple-double.

A big letdown in CEU’s 76-79 defeat to Lyceum on 19 March, Momowei grabbed 15 rebounds.

Meanwhile, the league takes Holy Week break next week and returns on 6 April for its quarterfinal matches with the winners facing CEU and Olivarez.