Sea Lions top Blazers, near UCBL twice-to-beat

Games Tuesday (Buddhacare gym, Q.C) 9 a.m. – JRU vs Olivarez 10:45 a.m. – CSB vs Diliman 12:30 p.m. – NU vs CEU

Olivarez College drubbed St. Benilde, 84-65, to zero in on the top spot and the twice-tobeat advantage in the final of the Universities and Colleges Basketball League (UCBL) Summer Invitational at the Buddhacare gym in Quezon City last Thursday.

Up 35-29 at the half, the Olivarez Sea Lions came up with a series of runs to pull away for good and notch their seventh win in eight games.

The win also made up for the Sea Lions’ 55-66 defeat to the surging Diliman College last Tuesday that snapped their six-game winning streak in the event backed by Ever Bilena Blackwater, Smart, Advanced Solution, Inc. and Manila Bulletin.

Olivarez, which got 22 points from Pruvil Bermudez and 16 from John Uduba, needs only to win one of its two remaining games to secure the bonus in the final against the No. 2 team.

Meanwhile, Diliman College boosted its bid for the other final berth with a 60-53 win over Centro Escolar University as African Alex Diakhite scored 27 points and grabbed 15 boards, including five offensively.

The win improved Diliman College’s record to 6-3.

In the other game, National University picked up its fifth win in also nine games by crushing Jose Rizal University, 94-64.