NU Bulldogs in the UAAP Season 84 men’s basketball tournament. UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–National University broke out of a tight first half and clobbered University of Santo Tomas, 82-51, Thursday in the UAAP Season 94 men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena.
Methodically peeling away early, NU finally fished a double-digit spread off a Shaun Ildefonso basket that gave the Bulldogs a 47-36 lead, 5:43 to play.
Ildefonso then hit four straight points after an exchange of baskets by both squads, giving the Bulldogs a 13-point spread and herding the Growling Tigers into a timeout.
Off that break, however, UST immediately committed a turnover and missed an attempt, paving the way for John Figeroa to drain a triple that capped what wound up as 11 straight points that gave NU a 60-40 spread going into the fourth.
That was enough for NU to rise to 3-3 and drop UST to 2-4.
There was hardly any prelude in the first two quarters that the game would end up in a crushing rout.
Reyland Torres had 10 points in under six minutes in the first half, making four out of his five attempts from beyond the arc, while Patrick Yu nailed five points in the final three minutes of the second period to push NU ahead at the break, 35-31.
True to form, UST tried to survive on a diet of threes, and made six out of 18 attempts to stay in step with the Bulldogs.
But all that came apart in a disastrous second half where the Growling Tigers were completely bamboozled. NU outscored UST, 47-20, in the last two quarters.