UM stretches NAASCU win streak to eight

MANILA, Philippines - University of Manila extended its winning streak to eight, beating St. Clare College, 101-80, and sweeping the first round of the 11th NAASCU junior basketball tournament at the UM gym recently.

The Hawklets relied on the troika of John Lenyer Santos, Yves Maverick Nicholas and Rodolfo Marticio to subdue the Baby Saints in the nine-team tournament organized by NAASCU president Dr. Jay Adalem.

Santos topscored with 25 points, Nicholas added 24 points and Marticio made 22 points for the Hawklets, who whisked off the Baby Saints’ challenge at the onset of the last quarter before pulling away.

Jezer Calma led the Baby Saints with 25 points, followed by Norman Mercado with 23 and Roy De Mesa with 13 points.

St. Clare dropped to 5-3.

Defending champion Our Lady of Fatima University demolished Informatics International Colleges, 120-69, while AMA Computer University outsteadied arch-rival STI Colleges, 86-80.

The Baby Phoenix relied on Bernabe Teodoro, Gio Lasquety, Noel Montanez, Jordan Gaddy and Paul John Pineda to beat the Junior Icons.

The win improved Phoenix record to 6-2 in a tie with Centro Escolar University.

Teodoro topscored with 17 points for the Antipolo-based squad while Bernard Repato paced the Junior Icons with 27 points.

The Junior Titans rode on the game-long brilliance of Jefferson Arceo, who fired a game-high 32 points, for a 5-3 mark.

Gilbert Garcia and Jinno Santos contributed 13 and 11 points, respectively, for AMACU, while Arjay Napenas and Erven Silverie combined for 40 points for the Junior Olympians, who still made it to the next round with a 3-5 record.