Game 2 action between St.Clare College amd Fatima University. NAASCU photo
St. Clare downs Fatima, keeps title hopes alive
THERE will be a third and deciding game in the National Athletic Association of Schools Colleges and Universities (NAASCU) Season 22 basketball tournament.
Beaten the last time around, defending champion St. Clare College of Caloocan came back with a vengeance to bring down Our Lady of Fatima University, 56-55, in Game 2 at the Novadeci Convention Center in Novaliches, Quezon City.
JB Lim was the top man for the Caloocan-based Saints, scoring 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting on top of five rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes of play for coach Jino Manansala.
Drick Acosta and Ryan Sual had identical stats with nine points and six rebounds for Saints, who tied the best-of-three title showdown at 1-1.
Charles Burgos and Megan Galang added six points each while Babacar Ndong chipped in four points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Mamadou Toure led the Valenzuela City-based Phoenix of coach Ralph Rivera, finishing with a double-double performance of 12 points and 15 rebounds in 37 minutes of action.
Danzel Gomez added 11 points while Edward Labayen had 10 points and four assists in a losing effort.
Andrei Romero, Ace Rusell Tiamzon and Keiht Bencalo chipped in six points each.
With the score pegged at 55-53 and Fatima ahead, Lim sank two free throws to tie game.
Labayen, however, quickly made a lay-up to give the Phoenix a two-point lead with 3:43 left remaining.
Both team tightened their defense as they missed shots before Galang was fouled by Tecson in the three-point territory with 1:04 left.
Galang only sank one free throw to cut the deficit to one, 54-55.
With44 seconds left on the clock, Ndong stole and scored on a breakaway dunk on Tiamzon turnover.
And St. Clare held on until the final buzzer.
Meanwhile, New Era University crowned itself as the back-to-back champion in juniors division after beating Fatima Junior Phoenix, 83-51.
Divine Chukwueneka Adili tallied monster numbers of 29 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks in 29 minutes.
The Junior-Hunters also got 13 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and three steals from Richmond Montejo, 11 points from Dominic Salazar and 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists from Jerson Carl Cabrera.
Sean Reyes paced the losing effort for the junior Phoenix with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Luis Cruz and Gabriel Carlos added eight and six points, respectively.
Earlier, Madelyn Flores and Hannah Sonido provided the winning baskets as Enderun overwhelmed the University of Makati, 65-35, to retain the title.
Flores powered the LadyTitans with 12 points, followed by Sonido, Kelsey Reola and Jasmin Fijer.
