UAAP: Bulldogs bounce back, blast Maroons

(Updated 4:38pm) The National University Bulldogs recovered from a Sunday loss by routing the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 67-50, on Thursday in the first round of the 75th UAAP mens' seniors division basketball tournament, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. National University rode on a huge second quarter where their bench played a vital role in outscoring the Maroons in the period, 26-8. The cushion allowed the Bulldogs to coast in the second half, even if UP outscored them 32-25 in the latter quarters. "We focused on our defense, even if things weren't falling for us [at times] on offense," said Bulldogs head coach Eric Altamirano. "In fairness to UP, they gave us different looks with their zone that got us out of sync. We felt we didn't handle that very well." "I just reminded the boys to have poise and focus in the second half," he finished. The Bulldogs put up their first points off a quick two from Villamor and a putback slam from Parks, opening the game at 4-0. The Maroons defended in vain as NU overran them in the paint and scored exclusively from the line or at the rim. Jelo Montecastro converted a pair of free throws with three minutes to play, but NU's Gelo Alolino countered, scoring four of his team’s last six. The Maroons' reserves, however, helped fill the gap after one quarter, 16-10, as reserves Diony Hipolito and Henry Asilum made plays in the final minute. Asilum scored once more at the start of the second quarter, but Parks answered with a three-pointer, followed by an alley-oop lay-up in transition from Robin Roño to bring the tally to 21-12. Jett Manuel scored in isolation from the top of the key, but otherwise the Maroons could not score off a halfcourt set and they fumbled several tries on the break. National University's bench, on the other hand, reeled off 10 points in a 12-0 run as reserves like Roño, Jul-Ashri Ignacio and Mark de Guzman sliced through UP's defense with relative ease. Mike Silungan scored UP's third and fourth field goals in the quarter with under a minute to play, but Mbe put the finishing touches for the half, scoring seven in a 9-4 run, that allowed the Bulldogs to take a 42-18 lead into halftime. The Maroons found a way to blank NU from the field, specifically, a 1-3-1 zone, while they went on a 6-2 run, capped by a layup by Montecastro on the break. But the Bulldogs woke from their stupor as Mbe was fouled with four and a half minutes remaining in the quarter, and nailed both charities. NU's only two field goals in the period came off back-to-back threes, courtesy of Javillonar and Parks, that punctuated an 8-2 run for National University. Jett Manuel then made two from the line as the quarter wound down, 52-26. UP rallied for a final time in the fourth as treys from Manuel and Silungan bolstered a 7-4 run. Roño was fouled on the other end but only made one of two from the stripe. The Maroons then attacked the rim aggressively and tallied six unanswered points, 57-41, with under five minutes to play. It wasn’t enough though, as the Bulldogs weathered the storm until the final buzzer. Bobby Ray Parks led his team with 18 points, six assists and three steals. Emmanuel Mbe added 17 points and 16 rebounds, while forward Jeoff Javillonar nine points and seven boards. Parks, last season’s MVP, shrugged off any assertions that this game made up for the loss last week against Ateneo, the defending champions. "There's a lot more games to play in the UAAP," said Parks. "All we have to do is get better on the court. This game showed us our weaknesses." NU outclassed the Maroons on the boards, 49-36. They were also the aggressors on the offensive end, making 22 of 28 free throws against an 8 for 10 mark for State U. Jett Manuel had 11 points for the Maroons, while Mike Silungan tied him and added four steals. Jelo Montecastro had 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting. The host school NU improved to 2-1 with a Saturday game against the UST Growling Tigers next, while UP sees the Adamson University Falcons on Sunday. - AMD, GMA News The scores: NU 67: Parks 18, Mbe 17, Javillonar 9, Rono 7, Alolino 6, Villamor 4, Ignacio 4, De Guzman 2, Singh 0, Rosario 0, Neypes 0, Labing-isa 0, Betayene 0 UP 50: Silungan 11, Manuel 11, Montecastro 10, Ball 4, Lopez 4, Hipolito 4, Asilum 4, Soyud 2, Mbah 0, Romero 0, Padilla 0, Gamboa 0 Quarter scores: 16-10, 42-18, 52-26, 67-50