IT will be defending champion St. Clare College of Caloocan and Our Lady of Fatima University in the finals of the NAASCU — again.

The Saints escaped New Era University, 68-65 while the Phoenix outsteadied Philippine Christian University, 69-59 in a pair of exciting semifinals matches at the NOVADECI Convention Center in Quezon City It will be the second straight time that the Saints, who will seek an unprecedented seventh straight championship since 2016, and the Phoenix, who finished runner-up twice in 2016 and 2023, will dispute the title.

Last year, St. Clare defeated Fatima, 50-48, in another tight and exciting battle at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Ahron Estacio again stood at the forefront of the Caloocan City-based Saints of coach Jino Manansala as he finished with 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals in 24 minutes of action.

Ryan Sual added 13 points, Megan Galang contributed 11 points and five rebounds and Charles Burgos chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for St. Clare, which lost only one game against Enderun ( 60-63) in the elims.

Toritseju Adams paced the Quezon City-based Hunters of coach Jay Agsalud with 21 points on 9-of-12 and eight rebounds in a losing effort.

Vincent Nablo and Jared Sevilla added 10 points each while King Gallardo had nine points.

Earlier, Mamadou Toure tallied a double-double of 26 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks in 27 minutes of action to lead the Valenzuela City-based Phoenix of coach Ralph Rivera to victory.

Andrei Romero added 11 points and three assists while Ace Rusell Tiamzon and Kevin Seth Loyola contributed nine points each.

Charles Tecson chipped in eight points Troy Manipolo led the Biboy Simon-mentored Dolphins with 14 points and three rebounds in 22 minutes of play.

Backing him up were Christian Austria (12 points) , Dan Gelo Pascua (11 points), and Solomon Itam (10 points, nine rebounds).

The scores:

First game

Fatima (69) — Toure 26, Romero 11, Tiamzon 9, Loyola 9, Tecson 8, Templonuevo 2, Labayen 2, Bencalo 2, Gomez 0, Suelto 0
PCU (59) — Manipolo 14, Austria 12, Pascua 11, Itam 10, Failon 7, Mallabo 3, Torrenueva 2, Dulay 0, Obioha 0, Rotoni 0, Lleva 0, Daluz 0
Quarterscores: 19-20, 38-36, 57-44, 69-59.

Second game

SCC (68) — Estacio 14, Sual 13, Galang 11, Burgos 10, Ndong 9, Lim 6, Acosta 3, Balacaoc 2, Desabelle 0, Manzano 0
New Era (65) — Adams 21, Nablo 10, Sevilla 10, Gallardo 9, Lauzon 6, Manzano 5, David 3, Angeles 1, Basibica 0, Tolentino 0, Labio 0.
Quarterscores: 15-9, 27-25, 48-37, 68-65.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya