Games Saturday
(Paco Arena, Manila)
12 p.m. – PWU vs LPU-B
2 p.m. – UB vs PCU-D
4 p.m. – WCC vs MCU
MANILA, Philippines — Alfred Joseph Flores is only 5-foot-8 tall but stood out in the opening of the UCAL-PG Flex Linoleum 7th Season on Thursday at the Paco Arena in Manila.
The crafty guard produced a double-double of 31 points and 11 boards to help power newcomer Immaculada Concepcion College-Caloocan to a stunning 81-71 win over Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas before a sizable crowd.
He also dished out 5 assists to emerge as the Player of the Game in the 10-school league that has the support of Akari, CafeFrance, Advance Solutions Inc., Smart Sports, Spalding, Team Rebel Sports, Quintana Sports, Crane Faucet, Hapee Toothpaste, Jiang Nan Restaurant, Vital, TopFlite Academy, Maruyama and Gerry’s Grill.
In the second game, Manila Central University drew 13 points each from Seanne Devon General and Dennis Laconsay to beat University of Batangas, 95-90.
Host Diliman College completed the days of upsets as it downed three-peat seeking Centro Escolar University, 65-55.
The DC Blue Dragons held the Scorpions scoreless while erupting for 10 points in the last three minutes to get back at last year’s tormentor – thanks to Matthew Calilong.
Calilong registered 17 points, including six in that crucial stage. Solomon Kone pace the Blue Dragons with 18 points.
Both ICC and LPU-B fought tooth and nail in the first two quarters before the Blue Hawks made the needed separation midway in the third. They held the fort in the fourth to the surprise of almost everybody.
Flores was ably aided by Jared Loi Vento and Edrian Mark Ramirez who chipped in 15 and 13 points apart from combining for 14 boards.
Alpha Bah led the Pirates of the Batangas with 14 points and 7 boards in 20 minutes of action.
Meantime, World Citi Colleges – the other newcomer in the fastest growing league – debuts against MCU on Saturday.