LOUD and clear, National University said no one’s gonna be eliminated just yet this Wednesday.
Feeling the cold, hard wall behind their backs, still, the Bulldogs bit University of Santo Tomas hard with a 67-62 stunner at Mall of Asia Arena.
Jake Figueroa scored nine of his 13 points in National U’s amazing fourth quarter fightback to keep his side alive and kicking in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
His stellar play enabled the Jhocson side to stage a 17-3 run to rally from a 55-47 deficit to start the payoff period and capped it off with a dunk at the 5:47 mark to make it a 64-58 game.
The Growling Tigers tried to recover, but were just plagued with bad shooting, going 2-of-16 in the last 10 minutes as they let another win slip away from their grip.
Figueroa also hauled down 11 rebounds and four assists to push NU up to a 4-8 win-loss record.
Jolo Manansala was all over the floor as well, topping his side with 18 points built from four triples, to go with seven rebounds and two assists off the bench, while PJ Palacielo chipped in 15 points, six boards, and two steals.
NU-body's going away
“Tinalo namin yung UST, nilaro namin nang tama. Ganoon lang kasimple,” said a beaming coach Jeff Napa, proud of his side’s efforts of outworking their Espana counterparts, as they scored a second straight win against a Final Four-seeking team.
Last Sunday, they shocked the league by dropping the upset ax on the University of the Philippines.
READ: UPset alert! Lowly yet hungry NU takes fight out of UP
The back-to-back wins are a big boos to the Bulldogs' morale, as they are still fighting for their lives heading into their last two games against Adamson and La Salle.
UST, on the other hand, continued its nightmare second round after losing four of its last five games to go down to 5-6.
Nic Cabanero paced the Growling Tigers with 19 points and three assists, as Mo Tounkara had 15 points and 18 rebounds.
Other than the two, contributions came hard for the boys of coach Pido Jarencio, as Forthsky Padrigao shot 1-of-8 from the field and was held to just three points despite making seven assists in the defeat.
The Scores:
NU 67 – Manansala 18, Palacielo 15, Figueroa 13, Enriquez 6, Santiago 4, Jumamoy 4, Padrones 2, Garcia 2, Francisco 2, Tulabut 1, Yu 0, Lim 0, Parks 0, Perciano 0.
UST 62 – Cabanero 19, Tounkara 15, Manaytay 8, Paranada 8, Acido 6, Padrigao 3, Danting 3, Crisostomo 0, Pangilinan 0, Llemit 0, Robinson 0, Lane 0, Estacio 0.
Quarters: 19-12, 34-36, 47-55, 67-62.
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