Bulldogs trip Eagles; Warriors win

MANILA, Philippines - Cameroonian Alfred Aroga muscled his way to a near triple double spiked by a whopping eight blocks as a hot-shooting National U tripped Ateneo, 76-66, to force a tie for third with its victim yesterday in the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Aroga dropped 15 points on a 7-of-10 shooting, hauled down 11 rebounds and swatted away eight shots – tying the nine-year-old record of Far Eastern U’s Arwind Santos for most blocks in a game – to lead NU to its seventh win in 10 outings.

The Bulldogs, who had a 56 percent efficiency field goal clip, dragged the Eagles down to joint No. 3 behind the 7-2 of co-leaders FEU and La Salle.

NU came out firing and raced ahead to 22-4, a lead it expertly protected until the very end. The Bulldogs made 10 of their 11 shots (91 percent) in the first to get the slow-starting Blue Eagles on the back foot.

“The first quarter really helped a lot. We had a good offensive game which is not normal for us. Usually, we just thrive on our defense but today, we’re able to also do our job on offense so it gave us a cushion,” said NU coach Eric Altamirano.

The 6-foot-8 Aroga pounded it inside and forced the Eagles to change their shots.

“He was very focused today. He did his job. He knows what he needs to do to help the team and he delivered,” said Altamirano, who also drew double-digit figures from Troy Rosario (14), Gelo Alolino (13), Pao Javelona (12) and Glenn Khobuntin (11).

Ateneo mounted its characteristic fight back, opening the fourth with eight unanswered points, all from Fonso Gotladera, to cut the deficit to 55-60. But the Bulldogs countered with a 16-3 run sparked by Rosario and Aroga to restore a 16-point edge.

“We knew Ateneo would make a run so we told them to just stop the run, do what we do and go back to our fundamentals. Again, we did it with defense, we made stops after stops and we’re able to get the lead back,” Altamirano said.

Kiefer Ravena topscored with 18 points for the Eagles but was held to just two markers in the fourth.

“We dug a hole too deep for us to climb out of this time,” said AdMU coach Bo Perasol, still winless in four faceoffs with NU . “We started really bad. Defensively, we just coasted there, offensively, didn’t move that well and we can’t do that against a team like NU.”

Earlier, University of the East flirted with disaster before posting a 72-59 triumph with Adamson to improve to 5-5 and solo fifth.

The 13-point winning margin didn’t reflect the competitive nature of the game as the Warriors even trailed after two quarters and couldn’t shake the Falcons (0-10) off until midway through the fourth.

The Red Warriors unleashed three triples to break out of a 50-48 contest and fuel a lethal run that gave them a 65-55 cushion going to the last 2:15.

The victory boosted UE’s last ditch bid to salvage a spot in the Final Four.

“As I told the team, we still have a shot but we can’t play the way we played tonight. If that’s the way we’re going to play against NU, or the top teams, then we can kiss the season goodbye,” said UE coach Derreck Pumaren. “But we’re still in the hunt for Final Four, but we have to play a lot better than we played tonight.”