By Jun Ray Navarres
National University rallied from being down 13 to escape the Far Eastern University, 62-60 to score their first win in this year’s UAAP men’s basketball tournament, Saturday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Flaunting a comfortable 57-44 cushion at the start of the final stanza, FEU was unaware of the onslaught from the Bulldogs.
Tebol Garcia started the comeback of NU with a layup. The Bulldogs scored 12 unanswered points capped by Donn Lim’s 3 to turn the tables with a 15-0 run, 59-57.
FEU got the driver seat back with 3-out-4 shooting from the charity stripes, 60-59 but PJ Palacielo quickly snatched it back with an open basket, 61-60.
After a heated exchange, both teams struggled to drain the dagger with only the last two minutes remaining until Palacielo split his free throws to give NU a slim 62-60 advantage.
FEU ran the missed second free throw, but rookie Janrey Pasaol’s three missed the marker – fortunately a foul was called with 1.1 sec left on the clock. Yet, the freshman went 0-for-3 from the line leading to Palacielo grabbing the rebound and securing the win for NU.
NU held FEU to only a single field goal during the final quarter of the ball game.
Palacielo ended with nine points, six rebounds and two assists. Jake Figueroa and Kenshin Padrones each contributed 8 markers while Paul Francisco added seven.
Meanwhile, the Tamaraws slid down to a 0-2 start despite Mohamed Konateh’s 17 points and 16 rebounds double double. Veejay Pre finished with 15 points while Pasaol drained seven along with 11 boards.
Images courtesy of UAAP Media Bureau
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