‘Big boys’ Bulldogs battle Falcons for fourth win

National University hopes that winning feeling after its upset of UP will continue through the weekend. —UAAP MEDIA

They’re not grabbing headlines the way their counterparts in the UAAP women’s competition are. But the National University (NU) Bulldogs certainly earned the right to join the “big boys” group in the men’s tournament.

“If you want to become a member of the big boys, you have to challenge yourself to prove that you’re one of the big boys,” coach Jeff Napa told his players before what turned out to be NU’s biggest win so far in Season 85. “In order to compete, we have to keep up with the big boys for us to gain recognition.”

That 80-75 victory over defending champion University of the Philippines last Wednesday sure made everyone take notice.

Now that they’ve gotten everyone’s attention, the Bulldogs have to figure a way to keep it.

For starters, they can’t treat the Adamson University Falcons any less lightly than they did the Maroons. The two teams clash at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena, and if NU needs a cautionary tale, it only has to look at the other upset forged last Wednesday.

Powerhouse La Salle, riding high on the momentum of finally emerging from under rival Ateneo’s whip, faced University of the East (UE).

The Red Warriors were hardly given a chance against the Archers, who were supposed to come in and fashion a fitting followup to their win against the Eagles.

But the brothers Paranada, Kyle and Nikko, had other plans, hitting clutch baskets to complete an 81-74 upset.

“I challenged them in the dugout earlier; to be part of this season, we [need to] beat a big team like La Salle,” said UE coach Jack Santiago.

UP vs Ateneo

The Archers will try to recover from that shock loss when they face the winless Far Eastern U Tamaraws at 2 p.m.NU’s duel with Adamson will have a lot riding on it. The men’s tournament will cap its weekend games with a battle between Ateneo and University of the Philippines , who are both at 3-1 (win-loss), on Sunday. If the Bulldogs win, they will guarantee themselves as share of the lead at 4-1 heading into next week.

The Bulldogs are ways off from being the celebrated hoop squad in the NU campus. The Lady Bulldogs, after all, just recently notched a 100th straight victory and are unbeaten in the UAAP nine years running.Still, emerging on top after this weekend would be huge. And Napa knows what it will take to stay up there.

“The challenge is how to be consistent with the identity they have established today. Even if Tim Cone would coach this team but these players won’t have the desire to win, it will mean nothing,” he said. INQ