Bulldogs that bark hard also bite hard

MANILA, Philippines — The National U Bulldogs seem to bark louder and bite harder when facing Santo Tomas.

Banking on a strong finishing kick fuelled by Dave Ildefonso, the Bulldogs sank their teeth on the Tigers for the second time in UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tourney, 69-61, to give their bid a boost yesterday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.

Rookie Ildefonso dropped seven of his 16 points in the last 4:39 as the Bulldogs shut the door on the rallying Tigers with a 12-5 windup en route to securing their third victory in nine outings.

In doing so, NU completed a sweep of their two faceoffs in the tournament, having been victorious back in the initial salvo, 75-70, and moved one W behind the fifth-running UST, which slipped to 4-5 after seeing its three-game streak snapped, and University of Philippines, which waylaid University of the East in the other match, 94-81.

Juan Gomez de Liano sizzled with 15 markers, 12 rebounds and 12 assists – the league’s first triple-double since former Maroon Marvin Cruz’s 22-11-10 in 2006 – while Bright Akhuetie posted 28-13 as the Diliman cagers spoiled the 30-point explosion of UE’s Alvin Pasaol and drew level with the Tigers on win-loss record.

NU’s Jamike Jarin earned the distinction as the first coach to sweep an Aldin Ayo-coached team in the UAAP. 

“It’s not me, it’s 16 players responding right now,” said Jarin, who also drew double-digit outputs from Troy Rike (13), John Lloyd Clemente (12) and Issa Gaye (10).

Ildefonso stepped forward to put out the fire after UST chopped down NU’s 11-point lead to just a single point.

The scores:

First Game

NU 69 – D. Ildefonso 16, Rike 13, Clemente 12, Gaye 10, Diputado 7, S. Ildefonso 4, Yu 3, Joson 2, Sinclair 2, Aquino 0, Galinato 0, Gallego 0, Tibayan 0.

UST 61 – Subido 18, Lee 12, Huang 11, Cansino 8, Mahinay 8, Caunan 4, Agustin 0, Bataller 0, Marcos 0, Zamora 0, Consejo 0.

Quarterscores: 15-11, 33-32, 53-42, 69-61.

Second Game

UP 94 – Akhuetie 28, Desiderio 16, Ju. Gomez de Liano 15, Dario 13, Manzo 6, Vito 5, Jaboneta 3, Lim 3, Prado 3, Murrell 2, Gozum 0, Longa 0, Tungcab 0.

UE 81 – Pasaol 30, Manalang 15, Conner 12, Varilla 10, Beltran 4, Antiporda 3, Cullar 3, Bartolome 2, Strait 2, Acuno 0, Guion 0.

Quarterscores: 19-20, 41-44, 63-60, 94-81