MANILA, Philippines - Second-running National University tries to close in on idle frontrunner Far Eastern U when it battles dangerous University of Santo Tomas in today’s UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Bulldogs, coming off a three-game run, gun for their seventh win overall in 10 outings as they seek to move closer to the Tams’ 7-2 card in their 4 p.m. matchup with the Tigers (4-4).
Another surging team – La Salle (5-4) – hopes to keep its two-game streak going in the 2 p.m. curtain-raiser against University of the Philippines (0-8), an embattled squad aiming to barge into the win column under new coach Rey Madrid and assistants Poch Juinio and Ramil Cruz.
“Every game is important and we have to treat it with a sense of urgency because given the tight positioning in the team standings, one game, one loss, will really matter,†said NU coach Eric Altamirano.
A pre-tournament favorite, the Bulldogs have shown their form in a merciless 80-48 massacre of Adamson that came after an ego-boosting 59-58 disposal of erstwhile unbeaten FEU at the start of the second round. The streak stretched to three, counting their 63-56 triumph over La Salle in the last day of the first round.
For Altamirano, however, the Tigers remain a threat despite their two-match skid.
“UST is always a dangerous team. Suki kami ng UST last season, di ba? (UST always had our numbers last season, remember?),†he said, referring to their heartbreaks against the Tigers in Season 75, including one in the Final Four.
“And I don’t know, (injured UST veteran) perhaps Jeric Teng may be playing already. So we’ll see. We really have to prepare hard for UST,†he also said.
Teng has been sidelined by a partial tear in his right anterior labrum (shoulder joint) he suffered off a hard push by Joeff Javillonar in UST’s 67-71 loss to NU last July 10. Teng has been listed as “day-to-day†in the second round.
The Tigers suffered a meltdown in their last outing, squandering an 11-point lead in a 67-68 setback to UE.
“Coach (Pido Jarencio) told us that we didn’t play smart in the last minutes,†said Mariano, who went down with “mild sprain†in that match but is expected to return to action.
“We need to regroup and maybe when Jeric returns, our team will be running more smoothly,†he added.
Meanwhile, La Salle is looking to sustain the momentum of its king-sized 75-66 triumph over the Tams and make the Maroons their latest victims.
The Maroons were in the limelight this week, though not for winning games but for making changes in bench personnel mid-season.
Ricky Dandan stepped down after being asked to do so by the UP alumni association/team management, and Madrid was tapped as interim coach. Madrid, who called the shots for State U in the 1990s, was supposed to make his debut last Wednesday against UE in one of two games called off by the UAAP due to heavy rains and flooding.