St. Clare, Fatima notch second wins in NAASCU caging

MANILA, Philippines - St. Clare College-Caloocan and Our Lady of Fatima University scored a pair of romps as they shared the early lead in the 16th NAASCU men’s basketball tournament at the Makati Coliseum.

St. Clare blasted Philippine Merchant Marine School, 85-62, while Fatima dominated Rizal Technological University, 99-84, for their second straight victories in the 14-team tournament.

Irven Palencia, Aristotle Dionisio, Jordan Rios, Michael de Leon and Rafael Rebugio came away with double-digit outputs to power the Saints of NAASCU chairman Dr. Ernesto Jay Adalem and coach Jininp Manansala to another lopsided triumph, counting their 82-67 victory over AMA University last Aug. 25.

Palencia scored 16 points, while Dionisio dished out a double-double effort of 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Saints.

Reggie Debulcos and Domark Marillano combined for 29 points for the Mariners, who fell to 0-2.

OLFU, on the other hand, banked on Jess Pedrosa (18), Martin Gozum (16), Miguel Cabrera (14) and Joseph Marquez (13) to beat the Thunder.

The Phoenix of coach Ralph Emerson Rivera used a long scoring run bridging the middle quarters to turn a close contest into a rout.

The Thunder, handled by coach Johnedel Cardel, dropped to 1-1.

In other games, De Ocampo Memorial College crushed Colegio de San Lorenzo, 91-77; and New Era University humbled City University of Pasay, 76-69.