Fortea shines as NU books 8th straight UAAP juniors finals stint

MANILA, Philippines – The NU Bullpups banked on the hot shooting of Terrence Fortea to oust the Adamson Baby Falcons, 94-72, and book an eighth straight finals appearance Friday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Fortea led the way for the Bullpups with a game-high 30 points, shooting 7-of-14 from 3-point land.

NU was in control the whole game, starting strong from the get-go and erecting an early double-digit lead.

The Baby Falcons were able to keep themselves in the game thanks to a couple of empty trips from the line for the Bullpups.

By the end of the opening canto, Adamson was only down by 12, 18-30.

The Baby Falcons opened the second quarter with a three-point play to cut the lead to single digits, 21-30. But it was the closest Adamson would get for the rest of the match.

Fortea blew the game open after hitting back-to-back threes to bring NU’s lead to 15.

Despite the comfortable margin, NU didn't falter until the final buzzer. Adamson fought to get back into the game, but NU's offense proved to be too much to handle.

The Bullpups now await the winner of the Ateneo-FEU Diliman semis pairing to complete the finals cast.

NU hopes to break back-to-back finals losses and notch their first title since 2016.