FIVE out of five for defending champion St. Clare College of Caloocan.

Babacar Ndong proved to be a “Tower of Power” to lead St. Clare to an ego-boosting 70-45 win over City University of Pasay in the NAASCU Season 22 basketball tournament at the Tala Glorrieta Complex in Caloocan City.

Ndong, who was later named as ‘Best Player of the Game”, finished with another brilliant performance with 13 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in 28 minutes of action.

It was the fifth straight win for the Saints.

Ryan Sual and Ahron Estacio added nine points each, Megan Galang contributed eight points and Lex Gazzingan added seven points for the Caloocan-based Saints of coach Jino Manansala.

Kurt Meneses and John Luigi De Leon led the way for the Pasay-based Green Eagles with eight points each.

Hanz Yu added seven points and Neil Loterte and Danilo Ruiz chipped in six points each.

Actually, the Saints shrugged off a slow start before pulling away in the second half after outscoring the Green Eagles of coach Benedict Martin.

The Saints limited the Green Eagles to a 12 points in two quarters to turn a close contest, 35-33, at halftime into a rout.

Sharing the limelight was Enderun Colleges, which outplayed University of Makati, 96-86, to forge a three-way tie for second to fourth places with 5-1 win-loss slates.

The Titans of coach Pipo Noundou played an excellent game as five players scored in double figures.

Mustapha Salaudeen was the top man with 16 points and 15 rebounds in almost 31 minutes of play.

Joshniel Gastador and Jalen Garcia added 12 points each.

The Titans also got 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists from DJ Howe and 10 points, six assists and four rebounds from Hans Delos Reyes.

John Nelo Santos paced the losing effort of the Makati-based Herons with 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting and five rebounds in 29 minutes of playing.

Nonon Lastra added 22 points, four rebounds and three steals while Enzo Montecastro had 12 points for the Herons.

The scores:

First game

Enderun (96) — Salaudeen 16, Gastador 12, Garcia 12, Howe 11, H. Delos Reyes 10, Malano 9, Jimenez 8, Panganiban 7, Libago 6, Manese 5.
UMak (86) — Santos 27, Lastra 22, Montecastro 12, Lacsarum 8, Reforsado 6, Loria 4, Lorion 3, Tucaben 2, Nepomuceno 2, Erum 0, Lim 0.
Quarterscores: 26-24, 56-46, 83-62, 96-86.

Second game

St. Clare (70) — Ndong 13, Sual 9, Estacio 9, Galang 8, Gazzingan 7, Desabelle 5, Sumagaysay 4, Lim 4, Manzano 4, Russel 2, Dumancas 2, Loyola 2, Balacaoc 1, De Guzman 0.
CUP (45) — De Leon 8, Meneses 8, Yu 7, Loterte 6, Ruiz 6, Quebec 4, Casuyon 1, Garbiles 0.
Quarterscores: 17-17, 35-33, 51-39, 70-45.

Games Friday

(Enderun Colleges)
8 a.m.– PCU vs. St. Clare
9:30 a.m. — CUP vs. OLFU
11 a.m. — AMA vs. NEU
12:30 p.m.– Enderun vs. MLQU

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya