NU pulls away late to rout winless UP

MANILA, Philippines — National University broke the game wide open in the payoff period for a 74-60 rout of University of the Philippines Sunday in the UAAP season 76 men’s basketball tournament.

A 10-0 run to kick off the final quarter spelled the difference in a game where the Bulldogs needed a little time to heat up and pull away.

“We could not get a big lead against UP. They were really fighting until the end. You could not relax on them,” said head coach Eric Altamirano.

But NU’s offense just clicked, starting with Jeth Troy Rosario, backed up by Emmanuel Mbe, Joshua Alolino and Bobby Ray Parks.

And all the Bulldogs’ struggles just went away as they pushed their lead to as big as 19 points 71-52 late in the game.

“We want to emphasize that [teamwork]. We want to make sure we don’t really too much of Parks for offense,” said Altamirano.

Parks, though, still led NU with 18 points along with nine rebounds while Mbe struck a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards.

Alolino and Rosario added 12 and 10, respectively for the Bulldogs, who joined the fray with a 3-1 card.

The Maroons, meanwhile, stayed winless in four tries as they lost their grip of the game after managing to out score the Bulldogs in the third, 18-14.

Sam Marata unleashed 14 points for UP on 4-of-16 shooting, rookie Kyles Lao added 11 while Raul Soyud had 10 markers and 20 boards, but on a losing cause.