NU fights off UST, improves to 2-1

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

National University scraped past University of Santo Tomas, 94-84, in a frenetic, offense filled duel in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Bulldogs climbed to 2-1 after losing to defending champion De La Salle, 115-109, in another up-and-down game on Saturday.

“Coming into the game, I really felt that it was going to be a hard one because UST is down 0-2 so we knew coach Boy Sablan and the rest of the team will come out slugging and play their best and so far, this is the best game they ever played out of the three games,” said NU head coach Jamike Jarin.

NU ended the game on a 7-0 run inside the last two minutes with Dave Yu hitting a corner triple, Jordan Bartlett scoring on a layup and Issa Gaye sinking two free throws.

Gaye finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks while Yu scored 13 points in 19 minutes off the bench. Jayjay Alejandro had a near triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Jarin commended his players for their efforts and also praised UST for giving a good fight.

“Their record doesn’t speak where they are right now. UST is not an easy team. They’re a force to reckon with and they’re eventually going to win some games,” said Jarin after his squad dealt the Tigers their third loss in as many outings.

Regie Basibas gave the Growling Tigers a big lift with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and eight rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench. His career game, however, was cut short after he picked up his fifth foul with still 3:30 left.

Jordan Sta. Ana added 14 points and four assists before also fouling out with 1:32 remaining. His acrobatic layup against two NU defenders pulled UST within three, 87-84, with 2:00 minutes to go.

The Tigers had 41 turnovers in a loss to the Adamson Falcons on Saturday and while they managed to cut down on their errors, they still committed 29, several of which came down the stretch.