Bullpups twit Eaglets, sweep first round

MANILA, Philippines - Streaking National University flexed its muscles and walloped defending champion Ateneo, 73-60, to sweep the first round of the UAAP Season 78 juniors’ basketball tourney at the Blue Eagle Gym yesterday.

Justine Baltazar banged in 18 points and hauled down 16 rebounds while John Lloyd Clemente rifled in 18 and collared nine boards as the 7-0 Bullpups remained spotless at the halfway point of the competition.

The Blue Eaglets, whose cause was hurt by the injury suffered by hotshot Jolo Mendoza, slipped to 5-2 and tied De La Salle-Zobel for second.

The Junior Archers earlier fell to an ambush at the hands of Adamson, 66-79, in the penultimate game of a quadruple-header.

The Baby Falcons improved to 4-3 and shared No. 4 with Far Eastern U-Diliman, which whacked University of Santo Tomas, 61-40.

University of Philippines-Integrated School picked up its breakthrough win via a 104-69 mangling of University of the East in a battle of the cellar-dwelling squads.

The Bullpups touched things off with a 9-2 blast and threatened to blow away the Eaglets early on, but the Ateneans, using their pressure defense, fought back hard, took an 18-15 lead after the first and stretched it to 31-19 in the second.

But that turned out to be Ateneo’s brightest moment in the game as Lorenzo hurt his knee and NU closed in at 28-31 at the turn. Winderlich Coyoca and Joshua Jugar then joined Clemente and Baltazar in a searing third-quarter assault to restore the lead for NU, 53-42.

Gian Mamupac paced AdMU with a game-high 19 and nine caroms as Samjosef Belangel (11) and Romulo Berjay (10) helped out in offense. Lorenzo went scoreless on a 0-of-7 clip as he played sporadically for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, EJ Agbong fired 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as AdU outplayed the Junior Archers who absorbed their second setback. Aljun Melecio led La Salle with 24.

In another game, the Baby Tams stormed to an early 21-6 to set the stage for the rout of the Tiger Cubs two weeks after their seniors counterparts won the crown at the expense of UST. The Tiger Cubs ended the first round with 2-5, just ahead of UPIS’ 1-6 and UE’s 0-7.