MANILA, Philippines – Behind a 29-point explosion from Ray Parks Jr., National University thwarted Far Eastern University, 85-74, Friday in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Pre-Season Cup at the San Juan Arena.
The Bulldogs, trying to further bolster their line-up for the coming UAAP season, also found a gem in transferee guard Mark De Guzman who he added 15 points.
With another dominating victory, NU emerged as one of the early contenders in the annual pre-season league with a 2-0 record.
But head coach Eric Altamirano downplayed the victory over the last year’s UAAP finalist FEU, despite NU leading by as huge as 25 points in the third quarter.
“We have to keep in mind this is a pre-season tournament, that’s not yet the real game of FEU,” said Altamirano. “We’re still a work in progress and hopefully we develop the maturity of the players.”
The Tamaraws, who now have bruiser Arvie Bringas in tow after serving his two-year residency, took a fair beating and failed to get anything going in time for a comeback.
Bringas collected 13 points while Roger Pogoy had 12 points and eight boards but former UAAP MVP RR Garcia struggled as he went for 3-of-14 from the field for only eight markers.
After trailing for most of the game, FEU was only able to bring the lead down to 73-85 but with only a little over a minute left to play.