MANILA, Philippines - Known for their stifling defense, the National U Bulldogs seemed to have lost some of their bite last Saturday, allowing the Far Eastern U Tams to score a 75-70 victory in Game One of the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball finals and placing themselves in another do-or-die predicament.
But coach Eric Altamirano remains confident his wards can bounce back as they try to force a sudden death and rally to win their first crown in 60 years.
“The series is not over; we’ve lost the battle but not the war. They have to beat us twice (to cop the crown),” said Altamirano.
The soft-spoken mentor, though, rued their defense in the opener.
“By allowing them to score 75, that means we didn’t really did a good job with our defense,” he said.
Prior to the finals, NU was conceding an average of 58.2 points to each opponent. They were also holding rivals to 33.9 percent field goal shooting but in the opener, FEU made 40.85 percent of its shots.
Altamirano wasn’t pleased with their defense especially in the third quarter, where the Tams outscored them 25-12, to seize a double-digit spread.
“Sa third quarter talaga (Key was really the third quarter). They were able to get the momentum, especially on transition and they made their shots from the outside. Plus most of their transition baskets came off our turn-overs,” he said.
“We won all quarters except the third so we have to take a look at that and see what happened,” he said.
The Bulldogs got to within 68-71 with still 1:01 left but the Tams found a way to extend their lead to five with Mac Belo scoring off a pick and roll.
“Perfect play, perfect timing. Again Mac is not afraid to take the big shot,” said FEU coach Nash Racela.
“It was a blow-by; for us that’s a no-no. We knew they’re gonna do that except maybe Alfred (Aroga) lost his footing, he wasn’t on the right spot when Belo drove. Breaks of the game and those things happen. It’s just very unfortunate that it happened in the crucial part of the game,” said Altamirano.
NU still had a chance when Aroga and Gelo Alolino drew fouls and earned a pair of freebies. The duo went 1-of-2 on their respective trips to the line in the last 42 seconds. In all, the Bulldogs missed 16 of their 31 gift shots.
“I think it’s more of mental fatigue; they were too excited and emotional about being in the finals for the first time,” said Altamirano.
The Bulldogs found themselves in a win-or-go home for the fourth time this season. They previously survived a KO match with University of the East for the last semis berth then got past top seed Ateneo twice to advance to their first finals stint since 1970.
“Wala kaming choice (It’s not by choice), we’re put in this situation and the most important thing is we give it our best on Wednesday,” said Altamirano.
The Tams, who are gunning for their first title since 2005 and 20th overall, will carry the same attitude going to Game Two.
“We’ll take the next game as a do-or-die,” said Racela.