MANILA, Philippines - Gelo Alolino fired a career-high 26 points spiked by four triples as embattled defending champion National U stayed in the hunt for the remaining Final Four berth with a 75-69 victory over University of the Philippines.
Alolino dropped 12 in the payoff period as the Bulldogs quashed the comeback attempt of the Maroons.
The Bulldogs (6-7) are now ahead of La Salle (5-7) in the race for fourth place while giving the Maroons (3-9) the boot. UP missed the semis for the 18th straight year.
“At this point, we just want to just focus on the job at hand (and not think about the others). We have to take care of our own business. We still have FEU coming up (on Saturday) and that’s where we’re focused on. And then we let the rest take care of itself,” said NU coach Eric Altamirano.
The Bulldogs cranked it up on defense in the second half. They held UP to only 11 markers while scoring 24 in the third as they opened up a 52-42 tear.
UP threatened to within three going to the last 2:38 but Alolino racked up 10 unanswered points to singlehandedly restore a 73-63 upperhand for NU.
“There’s so many things we wanted Gelo to do for us so he has a lot of load this year. Imagine he’s our point guard but he’s scoring for us. It’s a big responsibility but he’s living up to it; he’s carrying the load not only on offense but in everything we do in and out of the court,” said Altamirano.
Diego Dario and Jett Manuel shot 13 each for UP.