NU bags juniors title; FEU wins women’s crown in basketball

MANILA, Philippines—National University struck relentlessly down the wire and finished off Far Eastern University-FERN, 72-63, in game three to wrest the juniors basketball championship in the UAAP season 74 Sunday.

The FEU Lady Tamaraws, meanwhile, busted the Adamson Lady Falcons’ grandslam attempt as it regained the women’s basketball title with a 68-57 domination in the do-or-die match.

Juniors mythical five honoree Raphael Atangan led the Bullpups with 18 points and 11 rebounds as he aided in warding off the expected last-ditch rally by the Baby Tamaraws.

NU, which claimed its first juniors title in decades, snatched the momentum from FEU-Fern in the third quarter on a total team effort.

Ralph Tansingco added 18 points for the Bullpups, who won the last two games after the Baby Tamaraws got a 1-0 start in the series.

Juniors’ MVP Jerie Pingoy was held down to 15 points as he failed to help FEU, which dominated the first half of the match, end the title drought.

But women’s MVP Raiza Palmera, instead, pulled off a fitting sendoff for herself as she paced the Lady Tamaraws with 24 huge points on a hot-shooting affair.

Allana Lim came in as a reliable backup for Palmera and pitched in 19 points for FEU, which held the back-to-back champion Adamson at its mercy for most of the game.