Hawks trip Danes, stay unbeaten

ANGELES CITY — Three-time national inter-collegiate champion University of Manila survived a gallant stand by Angeles University Foundation to eke out a hard-earned 91-86 win and assure itself of the first finals berth in the National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (NAASCU) basketball tournament at the AUF gym here Tuesday.

Jessie Macasa canned two pressure-laden free throws with 28 seconds remaining and the rest of his teammates came up with a couple of big defensive stops in the dying seconds to clinch the sixth straight win for the Hawks.

Macasa’s two free throws off a foul by Louie Sendin came after Jerome Alonzo of AUF buried back-to-back three-point shots to put the Great Danes to within 86-87 with still one and a half minutes remaining.

The Great Danes still had a chance to turn the game around but Raymond Go missed two free throws with 15 seconds left and Bobby Gutierrez and Louie Aquino converted two of four trips from the line for the Hawks to finalize the score.