Hawks stop Fatima, annex 10th win in row in NAASCU

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion University of Manila made 10 wins in a row, beating Our Lady of Fatima University, 76-69, in the 11th NAASCU men’s basketball tournament at the Makati Coliseum.

Last year’s MVP/ROY awardee Eugene Torres stood at the forefront of the victory, scoring a game-high 27 points for the Hawks of coach Jojo Castillo and consultant Rex Manansala.

Jeff Alvin Viernes added 13 points, Andrew Rivera contributed 11 points and Jay-Ar Manuel had 10 points and 18 rebounds for the Zycare Pharma-supported Hawks.

Dexter Rosales scored 24 points for coach Rensy Bajar-mentored Phoenix Juvet Nsoga and Schever Benavidez added 15 and 10 points, respectively, for Fatima, which dropped to 6-5.

Equally impressive were last year’s runner-up STI Colleges, which downed Centro Escolar University, 67-63; and AMA Computer University, which outsteadied Informatics International Colleges, 70-68.

Jerald Bautista and Rk Morales scored 15 points each for the Olympians, who posted their ninth win in 11 outings for solo second behind UM. 

Jasper Melano contributed 10 points for STI.

The Scorpions, who suffered their third loss in 11 games, were led by John David Orbeta and Leymund Babad with 17 points apiece.

CEU fell to third place.

The Titans of coach Jhune Golosinda and consultant Jhonny Cutaran relied on the heroics of former UST mainstay Mark Mangalindan, who completed a three-point play with 1.5 seconds left for their fifth win in 11 outings.

Mangalindan’s heroics came after Jiovani Jalalon stole the ball on Titans’ Jonathan Ibarra and gave the Icons a one-point lead, 68-67, after trailing by almost 10 points entering the last two-minute mark.

Romard Avellana topscored with 16 points for the Jhun Evangelista-managed Titans, followed by Raymond Alvarado with 12 and Mangalindan with 11 points.

Mark Montuano and Jalalon combined for 48 points for the Icons, who fell to 7-4.

Jasprit Sanghera added 11 points.