MANILA, Philippines – The Adamson University Soaring Falcons thoroughly clobbered the National University (NU) Bulldogs, 77-53, for their fourth consecutive victory in the UAAP Season 79 tournament on Sunday at the Big Dome.
In what was a showcase of Adamson's trapping defense and explosive offense, the Falcons held the Bulldogs to only seven field goals in the first half and led by as much as 30 points en route to the huge victory.
The Falcons improved to 8-5, tying idle Far Eastern University (FEU) for a share of third place. They are just one game behind Ateneo de Manila University (9-4) for the second seed in the Final Four, which carries with it a twice-to-beat advantage.
"We needed that win," said Adamson coach Franz Pumaren. "We're aiming to at least get a tie and get a shot at gaining that twice-to-beat advantage. So the scenario right now is, we just have to beat Ateneo (on Wednesday), and we would create some sort of tie."
The sputtering Bulldogs, who lost six of their seven games in the second round, simply had no answer for the Falcons. After a triple by Dave Yu in their final possession of the third quarter gave NU some momentum heading into the final frame, the Falcons were quick to snuff out any semblance of a rally.
Second-year swingman JD Tungcab scored all of his nine points in a stirring 11-2 run to open the fourth quarter, giving Adamson a 67-42 lead with five minutes left. He made minced meat of NU's transition defense, breaking down the Bulldogs en route to easy lay-ups.
"When the season started, Tungcab was the starter, then he went down to the third group, but he worked his way up again," Pumaren said of Tungcab, who also had three assists in just under 13 minutes of playing time.
Tungcab goes all the way! pic.twitter.com/G2KICXx6oe
— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) November 13, 2016
Adamson went on to lead by as much as 30 points, 75-45, after an and-1 by Sarr with 3:14 left. The Bulldogs scored eight unanswered points from there, but it did little to affect the outcome of the game.
The Falcons finished the game shooting a blistering 51.61% from the field, including six of their 17 three-pointers. On the other end, they limited NU to only 29.63% shooting with the Bulldogs as a team making only 16 of 54 attempts.
They also forced NU to turn the ball over 22 times, leading to 27 points off those turnovers.
J-Jay Alejandro was the lone Bulldog in double-digits with 15 points.
NU, champions of the UAAP two seasons ago and projected to be a Final Four contender this year, finished the tournament with a 5-9 win-loss record. It marks the Bulldogs' worst record since Eric Altamirano took over in 2011.
The scores:
NU 53 – Alejandro 15, Aroga 9, Salem 8, Yu 6, Diputado R 5, Mosqueda 3, Morido 2, Salim 2, Rangel 2, Abatayo 1, Diputado C 0
Quarter scores: 14-13, 35-19, 56-40, 77-53
(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)
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