ALTHOUGH National University ruled a pre-season tourney, there were doubts whether the Bulldogs have what it takes this season.
Stunning defending champion University of the Philippines yesterday somehow put those doubts to rest, for now.
Showing poise when it mattered most, NU eked out an 80-75 victory over UP for its second straight win in the 85th UAAP basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
A Carl Tamayo three-pointer pulled the Fighting Maroons to within 75-78 with 1:13 left but Terrence Fortea and Tamayo missed on their triple attempts in the ensuing possessions.
Steve Nash Enriquez sealed the deal from the foul line as the Bulldogs scored a big follow-up to their 69-63 triumph over University of Santo Tomas four days ago and rose to 3-1 in a tie with UP and Ateneo at the top.
Omar John showed the way for the Bulldogs with a career-best 16 points, to go with nine rebounds, and three assists, while Kean Baclaan backed him up with 13 markers, four boards, and four dimes.
Enriquez and Jake Figueroa also combined for 20 points for NU.
The Maroons came off a 73-67 decision over Far Eastern University last Saturday.
“Good win for us. At least, kumbaga we beat a very tough team. Hindi naman talaga (madali), that’s why they’re the defending champions,” NU coach Jeff Napa said. “Up to the last minute, talagang nag-build kami ng kung ano talaga iyong kailangan naming gawin para makuha namin iyong panalo.
“Hats off din talaga sa UP, talagang kaya sila ang defending champions,” he added.
Earlier, Ateneo ripped University of Santo Tomas 79-52 to get back on track.
Rence Padrigao fired a game-best 20 points, grabbed three rebounds, and issued eight assists for the Blue Eagles, while Dave Ildefonso added 10 markers, nine caroms, and six feeds.
The runaway win made up for Ateneo’s sorry 78-83 loss to archnemesis La Salle last Sunday.
The Growling Tigers slipped to 1-3.
“It was a tough, physical game. You expect that from UST. They’re battling for respectability right now and they deserve that because of how hard they play. But you know, they wanna get wins and so they’re gonna fight for those wins,” said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin. “We had to weather that storm. It was a good win for us in the end against a team that really had fighting spirit today.”
After taking a 33-32 buffer at the break, the Eagles outgunned UST 24-11 in the third to enjoy a 57-43 edge going into the payoff period.
Ateneo led by as much as 79-50 late in the duel.
Nic Cabañero paced the Tigers with 12 points, while Ivan Lazarte got 11 markers and five rebounds.
The Bulldogs enjoyed a 50-42 advantage at the half, but the Maroons knotted the count at 66-all heading into the final canto.
Zavier Lucero carried the fight for UP with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Tamayo had 17 and 11.
