C. Visayas tops PRISAA

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Central Visayas bets held off a late flurry by Davao to emerge as the most dominant contingent at the close of the PRISAA Collegiate National Games at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex here Thursday.

While no overall championship given in the event, Region 7 athletes can claim bragging rights to being the winningest among the 16 delegations that competed in the Games with a haul of 70 golds, 53 silvers and 67 bronzes.

In a two-way battle between the two regions that wasn't decided until the last competition - men's basketball - the Region 9 performers settled for runner-up honors with a gold-silver-medal haul of 66-59-42 in the sportsfest sponsored by Globe, Nature's Spring mineral water, Zamboanga Apparel and Radio Mindanao Network.

Region 4-A spoiled Davao's bid to rule the Games with a hard-earned 82-75 win over the Region 9 cagers to bag the championship.

Had the Davaoenos won, the five golds awarded for the event would have put them one up over Region 7 since team games golds are determined by the number of players on the playing field or court during a game.

Region 6 took third (58-59-79), Region 4-A fourth (58-43-47) and Region 5 fifth (13-12-23).

Western Visayas, a soccer hotbed, nipped Region 9, 1-0, to capture the men's football crown.

The Region 5 batters blasted Region 11, 12-2, to cop the men's baseball championship. On the other hand, Region 4-A stamped its class to sweep the men's and women's volleyball titles.

The Calabarzon male spikers subdued Western Visayas, 34-32, 25-21, 25-22, while their female counterparts topped Region XI, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-16.

Region 9, on the other hand, scored a double kill in men's and women's beach volleyball and also took the sepak takraw team gold.