New stars shine in Bulldogs win

Games today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

2 p.m. – AdU vs ADMU

4 p.m. – UE vs FEU

MANILA, Philippines - National U turned to heroes not named Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and romped off with a 75-61 mangling of Santo Tomas that pushed the Bulldogs closer to the pace in the UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

Parks managed only 10 points in 31 minutes of play, somehow slowed down by a wrist injury, but shock troopers Robin Roño and Dennis Villamor gratefully accepted the lead roles in helping the Bulldogs race to their fourth straight win for 7-3 overall.

The Bulldogs are now just half a game behind idle frontrunner Far Eastern (7-2) while the Tigers slumped to their third consecutive setback and 4-5 overall. The Bulldogs also spoiled the return from shoulder injury of UST veteran Jeric Teng, who saw action but hurt his right hamstring in the second period and never came back.

“It’s really a collective effort but the key was the bench, led by Robin. He’s actually one of our stoppers but for this game, he provided the spark for us, the outside shots when they (UST) played zone (defense),” said NU coach Eric Altamirano.

 Roño came off the bench to rifle in 19 points spiked by a sizzling five-of-six clip from beyond the arc. He shot 12 points in the fourth quarter alone, dousing cold water on UST’s fightback from double-digit deficits.

“Nag-stick lang kami sa game plan. First option is defense but (I’m) always ready to help in offense,” said  Roño after his career game.

Villamor finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, delivering seven clutch points in the third that lifted NU to a 56-44 margin. Overall, NU had 33 points off the bench.

Parks added eight rebounds, five assists and two steals to his scoring output.

“Ray has really been involving his teammates a lot and this shows his maturity as a player. He’s not after points, ang importante sa kanya (what he cares about) is the W,” said Altamirano of Parks.

Karim Abdul (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Kevin Ferrer (11 markers, 12 boards) led UST.

Teng got his first start after missing five games and scored two points. His return lasted 10 playing minutes as he ran grimacing in pain with 4:31 left in the second quarter.

La Salle cranked it up in the second half to hack out an 85-63 rout of University of the Philippines and give Rey Madrid, who replaced Ricky Dandan as Maroons coach, a rude welcome.

After falling behind in the early goings, the Archers held the Maroons down to 21 points in the last 20 minutes of play to wrest control and lay the foundation for their third straight triumph and a 6-4 card overall.

The Maroons dropped to 0-9, their mid-season coaching change hardly changing their fortune.

“The team’s becoming stronger as a unit and believing in one another,” said DLSU coach Juno Sauler, citing the reason for their streak. “We’re just trying to improve on what we’re doing – increasing assists, decreasing turnovers and shooting better.”