UAAP: NU rallies past FEU for first win in men’s basketball

NU Bulldogs’ PJ Palacielo in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament game against FEU Tamaraws. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

National University refused to give up and rode a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to secure a first win in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament at the expense of Far Eastern University, 62-60, on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bulldogs somehow got their act together to come back in the match where the Tamaraws dominated them for the majority of the game.

“Number one, of course, is the lessons we learned here—we can’t afford to start flat,” said coach Jeff Napa. “That’s what I keep telling them, we need to bring our effort from the start. We have to give 110% and go all out.”

SCHEDULE: UAAP Season 87 basketball

It was a rough shooting day for NU with no one even reaching twin digits. PJ Palacielo top scored with nine points in addition to six rebounds.

Jake Figueroa finished with eight points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals while Kenshin Padrones also had eight but dominated the paint with 10 rebounds.

NU, which will tackle another league favorite in University of the Philippines next, finally joined the win column with a 1-1 record to recover from an opening game loss to La Salle.

“We really have to rely on ourselves. That will be our battle cry this season so we can sneak in some wins,” said coach Jeff Napa. “We need to be consistent, so that whoever comes in can contribute, especially on defense,” said Napa.

READ: NU Bulldogs vow to keep up with UAAP ‘big boys’ again

“It doesn’t matter who our opponent is. We can’t say that just because we played well in our first game, we can relax—we still lost that one,” he added.

The Tamaraws built a lead by as much as 17 points which they squandered after the Bulldogs stormed back in the second quarter, 24-21.

NU was finally able to turn the game around for good with a 15-0 run, capped by a crucial triple by Donn Lim for the lead with 4:32 left. It limited FEU to only five points in the fourth.

Royce Alforque missed a possible game winner for FEU in a fastbreak with 6.4 seconds left, before Palacielo rebounded and was fouled by FEU to stop the clock.

Janrey Pasaol tried to bail out the Tamaraws with a triple but was sent to the line, where he missed all attempts.

FEU dropped a second consecutive game and put to waste the monster game from Mohamed Konateh, who had 17 points from an 85.7 clip highlighted by 16 rebounds and two blocks.

Rookie Veejay Pre also had solid numbers with 15 points and nine rebounds while Pasaol still added seven points, as well as Jorick Bautista, with 11 rebounds, and four assists.