By NIKOLE JAVIER
National University recovered from a sluggish start to turn back Far Eastern University, 62-60, for its first victory in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament on Saturday night, Sept. 14, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Bulldogs coped brilliantly in the final quarter and bounced back from their sorry opening game defeat against the De La Salle Green Archers to absorb an even 1-1 record.
NU leaned on bench effort to make up for the slack of its starting rotation as it accounted for more than half of the final count at 34 points.
Although no Bulldog finished in double figures, the team’s balanced effort proved to be enough down the stretch with PJ Palacielo showing the way with nine points that went with six rebounds.
Veterans Kenshin Padrones and Jake Figueroa turned in eight points each on top of seven and 10 rebounds, respectively.
In the opening chapter, NU struggled to gain some steam as it couldn’t trim down its double-digit deficit even after a huge half-court shot at the buzzer by Paul Francisco, 13-24.
The Bulldogs then turned to one of their reliable and crafty guards Steve Nash Enriquez, who drilled a buzzer-beating triple as the Bulldogs greeted the half with a slim 33-31 advantage over the Tamaraws.
FEU, though, continued to lead NU for most of the second half as they established another lead in double figures at 55-44 to seize control of the match.
However, the Bulldogs finally came back to their senses and unleashed an 11-0 run capped by Don Lim’s fierce three-pointer from the left wing to put his side ahead by two, 59-57, with 4:34 to go in the match.
Both squads scrambled to dive for loose balls in the last three minutes with PJ Palacielo splitting his free throws to provisionally ice the game at 62-60, with only 6.4 ticks left.
FEU rookie Janrey Pasaol went on to secure the rebound off Palacielo’s second missed freebie and fired from beyond the arc on the other end where he missed but was fouled by the latter.
With a chance to prove himself and give FEU a last-second win, jitters and inexperience got the better of Pasaol as he went blank from the foul line, leaving NU to complete a gripping come-from-behind escape act.
Mohamed Konateh paced the Tamaraws with a monster double-double performance of 17 points in a nearly perfect 6-of-7 inside shooting on top of 16 rebounds.
Rookie Veejay Pre also added 15 markers that went with nine rebounds, while Pasaol had seven points and a huge defensive outing of 11 rebounds to his name.
Legendary PBA import turned mentor Sean Chambers is yet to log his first UAAP win as a coach as the Tamaraws absorbed back-to-back losses.
The Scores:
NU 62 – Palacielo 9, Figueroa 8, Padrones 8, Francisco 7, Enriquez 6, Garcia 5, Jumamoy 5, Santiago 4, Perciano 4, Lim 3, Tulabut 2, Yu 1, Manansala 0, Dela Cruz 0, Parks 0.
FEU 60 – Konateh 17, Pre 15, Pasaol 7, Alforque 6, Bagunu 4, Daa 4, Añonuevo 0, Montemayor 0, Nakai 0, Ona 0.
Quarterscores: 13-24, 31-33, 44-55, 62-60
