Bulldogs devour Falcons for win No. 2

MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion National University nipped Adamson, 75-54, to pick up its second straight win after a 0-3 start in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tourney Wednesday at the MOA Arena.

The Bulldogs cranked it up in the second half, holding off the Falcons to 12 in the third and 14 in the fourth to run away with the follow-up triumph to their breakthrough 55-54 victory over Santo Tomas last Saturday.

“It looked easy but we had a hard time in the first half. We didn’t have the energy and had a slow start. We allowed Adamson to score 19 in the first quarter and they got their confidence. It’s a good thing we stepped up in the second half,” said NU mentor Eric Altamirano.

Alfred Aroga banged in 16 points, grabbed eight caroms and issued four assists while Gelo Alolino added 10. NU got 35 from its bench.

“I’m very happy the bench stepped up today. Hindi naman all the time Alfred and Gelo will carry the team,” said Altamirano, who also drew 10 points from Raph Tansingco, eight from Reden Celda and seven from Rev Diputado.

From 0-3, the Bulldogs are now on a two-game streak.

 “It’s too early to tell if we have the momentum. We’re taking it one game at a time, trying to improve as a team,” said Altamirano.

He said it’s defense that has helped the Bulldogs come out of the hole.

“In the three games we lost, we didn’t play defense. We allowed the other teams to score a lot so really the focal point of our last two game has been defense,” said Altamirano.

The Falcons dropped to 0-5  with assistant Wilmon Yu calling the shots in place of suspended coach Mike Fermin.

Ivan Villanueva led the way in scoring for AdU with 11 followed by Papi Sarr with nine markers and seven rebounds.

The scores:

NU 75 – Aroga 16, Alolino 10, Tansingco 10, Celda 8, Diputado 7, Javelona 6, Yu 6, Salim 5, Abatayo 3, de Castro 2, Morido 2, Alejandro 0, Javillonar 0, Lastimosa 0, Neypes 0, Rangel 0.

AdU 54 – Villanueva 11, Sarr 9, Nalos 7, Ochea 6, Polican 6, Garcia 4, Escalambre3, Margallo 3, Camacho 2, Ng 2, Bernardo 1, Fernandez 0, Tungcab 0.

Quarterscores: 17-19, 33-28, 54-40, 75-54.