BACOLOD CITY—University of the East upset UAAP champion Ateneo, 68-65, last night to forge a championship duel with National U duel in men’s basketball of the 17th Sandugo University Games at the jampacked University of St. La Salle Coliseum here.
Reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player Bobby Ray Parks scored on a putback with 1.7 seconds remaining to lift the Bulldogs to a pulsating 67-66 victory over the Adamson Falcons in a game that was later put under protest by coach Leo Austria.
With veterans Roy Sumang, Jai Flores and JM Noble making their presence felt in the last two minutes, the Warriors sustained their stirring run by stopping the defending champion Eagles in the other semifinal pairing.
National U set itself up for a double in basketball with its women’s team pulling off a 91-87 nipping of Adamson.
The Lady Bulldogs will face Far Eastern U in the finals after the Lady Tamaraws overcame the Lyceum Lady Pirates, 52-50.
Sumang went 3-of-4 from the free throw line inside the final minute after Flores and Noble knocked in big shots to help complete the come-from-behind victory for the Warriors.
Silent for most of the game, Parks rose above everyone else to tip in a miss from Philip Javillonar for the winning basket, after the Bulldogs regained possession following a non-call on Al-Raouf Julkipli, who lost the ball under pressure from three NU defenders.
The NU-Adamson game was delayed for more than 30 minutes after Bulldogs center Alfred Aroga broke the ring with a thunderous slam in the third quarter.
Aroga, a Cameroonian center, had a team-high 18 points for the Bulldogs, who won the title in 2010 in Dumaguete City. Austria said he put the game under protest due to the non-call on Julkipli as well as the excessive timeouts of the Bulldogs in the second half.
University of the Philippines captured its maiden women’s football crown at the expense of Ateneo, 1-0, after Kaira Dimatulac struck in the 105th minute.