Bulldogs devour UST Tigers

National University outgunned Santo Tomas from behind the arc as it hammered out a 98-85 victory yesterday to keep its impressive run in the 69th UAAP basketball tournament at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Bucking a hurting ankle, Jonathan Fernandez buried six three-pointers to finish with 24 points while Edwin Asoro scattered 21 as the Bulldogs nailed their second win against three losses.

Fernandez’s trey helped NU nail a total of 13 conversions, its best as a team since nailing 11 against Adamson last year and eight three years back.

But more than the Bulldogs’ superb outside shooting, it was their inside game that sealed it.

"We know they’re slow inside, we capitalized on it," said NU coach Manny Dandan, who is gearing up against Joe Lipa, his coaching mentor, and the State U Maroons on Thursday.

The game, however, turned ugly when Jojo Duncil, who had a pair of 25-point efforts in their last two games, did a Zinadine Zidane on Dave Catamora with 52.9 seconds to go.

The head-butt on Duncil could affect his chance for an MVP award.