THE University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars gained the solo lead in the standings of the Asia Pacific University Games basketball tournament after they beat the University of Southern Philippines Foundation Panthers, 84-81, yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The win, USJ-R’\s second in a row, came on the heels of their morale-boosting, 82-78 victory over the reigning Cesafi champions University of the Visayas Green Lancers on Thursday night.
Nichole Ubalde led USJ-R with 24 points, eight coming in the third when the Jaguars overhauled a, 43-44 deficit and turned it into a, 63-56 lead.
Two-guard Tricky Peromingan added 17 points, Fletcher Galvez chipped in 13 while Cesafi MVP Jaybie Mantilla had 11.
The Jaguars are now at the top of the six-team heap with a 3-0 win-loss card.
Against UV late Thursday evening, USJ-R’s dynamic duo of Mantilla and RJ Dinolan led the scoring parade with 15 and 14 points, respectively, to drop the Green Lancers to 2-1 in this tournament.
Sheldon Gahi paced UV in that game with 19 points while Gileant Delator, the former University of Cebu Webmaster, had 15. Rey Suerte and Josue Segumpan had 13 apiece.
Meanwhile, the University of San Carlos Warriors emphatically nabbed their first win with a 112-41 rout of the Malaysia Universiti Teknologi MARA also on Thursday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Warriors got on the winning track as they ran roughshod over a Malaysian squad that could barely cross the ball past halfcourt in the face of USC’s relentless full court press.
The Malaysians could barely able to inbound the ball without getting their passes picked off, and managed just nine points each in the second and fourth periods, to drop their second game in a row.
Little used forward Leo Labiste scored 24 points in spite not playing at all in the fourth period. Rookie sensation John Reel Saycon pitched in 19 markers to help USC even their record up at 1-1.