Bulldogs rally, nip Tamaraws to enter win column

MANILA, Philippines — The National University Bulldogs came from 13 points down in the fourth quarter and completed a furious rally against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 62-60, to finally tally a win in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It was a cardiac win that could have gone either way until the final seconds.

PJ Palacielo paced the Bulldogs with nine points, six rebounds and two assists. Jake Figueroa added eight markers, seven boards and seven dimes to go with three steals and a block for the Sampaloc-based squad, which lost foreign student athlete Mohammed Diassana for the season due to a left ACL injury.

After trailing by as much as 13 points, 44-57, at the start of the fourth quarter, NU was able to slowly crawl out of the hole and get the lead.

The Bulldogs held on to a one-point lead, 61-60, with a few seconds remaining, and the two squads were unable to gain a definitive upper hand.

After Tebol Garcia missed a potential dagger, Royce Alforque grabbed the rebound and rushed to the other side of the court.

He then pulled up and attempted a jumper but missed.

PJ Palacielo was then fouled and split his charities to keep a window of opportunity open, 62-60.

On the other end, Janrey Pasaol was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer, which could have given them the win or at least a tie.

His first free throw rimmed out, as well as his second. He tried to miss his third free throw intentionally for a chance to put it back for the tie, but Figueroa secured the winning board as time expired.

“Siyempre, ‘yung learnings namin dito hindi kami pwede magstart flat. So yun nga yung sinasabi ko sakanila, kailangan paglabas namin yung effort namin nandon. So we have to give our effort, 110%, to go all out,” NU head coach Jeff Napa said.

After combating back from 17 points down in the first quarter, 22-5, NU fell into another double-digit deficit in the third quarter.

A putback by Mo Konateh pushed the lead to 13, 57-44, at the start of the fourth quarter.

But the Bulldogs started to speed things up and tightened up on defense, unleashing a 15-0 run capped by a Donn Lim 3-pointer to take the lead, 59-57.

Free throws by Veejay Pre gave the lead back to FEU, 60-59, with 3:24 remaining, before Palacielo gave NU the lead for good, 61-60, with 3:04 left, setting up the wild finish.

Paul John Francisco chipped in seven for the Bulldogs, who rose to 1-1 this season.

Konateh finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Tamaraws, who are still yet to win a game this season. Pre added 15 markers and nine boards in the finest game thus far of his young UAAP career.

FEU will try to finally tally a win against the University of the East Red Warriors, while NU will try to string together wins against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons. Both games will be on Wednesday at the Big Dome.