Momowei precious for UE Warriors

MANILA, Philippines -- The late addition of Nigerian big man Precious Momowei for the UE Red Warriors was an "answered prayer," head coach Jack Santiago said.

Santiago, after their 80-70 victory over the UST Growling Tigers on Saturday night, bared that UE was already gearing to go all-Filipino for UAAP Season 86.

But a few days before the start of the season, Momowei's documents and papers were already cleared.

"Actually, to be honest, we were all very hopeless. The team was already hopeless. I just spoke to the president of the school and he told me to be ready with an all-Filipino again," Santiago told reporters.

"But, we thank the Lord. It is an answered prayer that within the time that we need to pass the documents and papers, it arrived so the papers of Precious were cleared," he added.

Momowei is not the lone answered prayer for UE, Santiago said.

"It goes to some of my players as well, not because of the papers, but their grades. Good thing, everything was ironed out before the deadline of eligibility," the mentor added.

Momowei had a solid outing against UST, feasting inside with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

He also tallied four blocks and three steals as UST's foreign student athlete, Adama Faye, struggled through an injury.

UST head coach Pido Jarencio said Faye sustained a back injury about three weeks ago.

"We thought it was already all right. I tried to use Faye [in the game] because he said he's good. But, he was still hurt," Jarencio told reporters in Filipino.

Faye played for eight minutes and 32 seconds in the game, finishing with a point, three rebounds and a foul.

In that period, he recorded a game-worst -18 for the Tigers.