UE grabs win against UP (4:54 p.m.)

MANILA -- Paul Lee drained 10 of his 23 points in the last canto to power University of the East (UE) against University of the Philippines (UP), 59-54, in the 73rd UAAP men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Still reeling from a foot injury, Lee proved he is the soul of the team after he sank a triple in the last 17.7 seconds to list the game’s final score as he drew support from skipper James Martinez and Kenneth Acibar.

Prized rookie Mike Silungan tried to move closer for UP by answering a triple, 56-54, but that proved to be the last gallant stand for the Diliman-based squad as UE made successful defensive stops to end the school’s four-game drought.

“Of course we’re not here to win one game. We have to make sure that we’re still there. There is a long way to go. Hopefully this would be the sparkplug for our future games. Going into this game, we have a bad record like most points allowed, lowest rebounds and bad defense,” coach Lawrence Chongson told reporters.

Martinez finished with 10 points while Acibar added six markers for UE as the Red Warriors improved to 1-4 (win-loss) card while UP slipped to 0-5. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)