DEFENDING champion St. Clare College-Caloocan made short work of Enderun College, 95-63, to clinch the first semis berth in the NAASCU Season 17 men’s basketball tournament at the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate.
Junjie Hallare, Aris Dionisio and Irven Palencia led another balanced scoring attack by the Saints, who need only one big scoring blast in the second quarter to turn a close contest into a rout and advance to the best-of-three semis.
But St. Clare will have to wait for its semifinal opponent.
Philippine Christian University clobbered Colegio de San Lorenzo, 75-58, to arrange a one-game playoff for a semis berth.
Hallare topscored with 20 points on a high 8-of-10 shooting in less than 24 minutes of action for the Saints of NAASCU president Dr. Ermesto Jay Adalem and coach Jino Manansala.
Dionisio added 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals and Palencia contributed 13 points and nine assists for St. Clare, which outscored Enderun, 27-10 in the second period en route to a lopsided victory.
Serge Wabo Captue finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds and John Vidal added 12 points for the Enderun, which advanced to the quarterfinals with an 85-81 win over Rizal Technological University last Tuesday.
St. Clare was dominant with more rebounds (51-33), assists (21-10) and steals (13-8).
The Saints also made 31-of-57 from the floor for 54 percent compared to the Titans’ 17-of-42 or 40 percent.
The Dolphins leaned on Mike Ayonayon, Yves Sazon and Von Tambeling to frustrate the Griffins and keep their semis hopes alive.
Ayonayon fired 24 points, Sazon added 23 and Tambeling had 17 for the Elvis Tolentino-mentored Dolphins, who beat the Griffins for the first time since losing three straight games to the same team in the 2017 MBL Open.
Import Soulemane Chabi Yo led CdSL with 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Jan Dominic Formento was the only other player with double-digit score for CdSL with 10.
The scores:
First game
SCC (95) – Hallare 20, Dionisio 17, Palencia 13, Pare 9, Rebugio 9, Mendoza 9, Rubio 8, Alcober 6, Puspus 4, Fuentes 0.
Enderun (63) – Wabo Captue 23, Vidal 12, Dela Cruz 8, Grilli 6, Dungan 4, Cadavos 4, Nuñez 3, Francisco 2, Villar.
Quarterscores: 18-16, 45-26, 75-49, 95-63.
Second game
PCU (75) – Ayonayon 24, Sason 23, Tambeling 17, Saldua 8, Ordoñez 2, Okoronkwo 1, Palattao 0, Mescallado 0.
CdSL (58) – Yo 16, Formento 10, Sablan 9, Gabriel 9, Rojas 8, Callano 4, Paclarin 2, Borja 0.
Quarterscores: 20-11, 34-30, 53-47, 75-58