DOG DAY AFTERNOON
With its women’s team powered by a graduating cog’s triple-double and the men’s crew getting most everyone involved, National University had a Sunday afternoon to remember in Season 88 of the UAAP basketball tournament.
Ann Pingol had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the first triple-double of her career—and the women’s tournament this season—as the Lady Bulldogs posted a 97-67 clobbering of La Salle to notch the second Final Four berth at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, where the Bulldogs practically achieved the same later.
With three players shooting twin figures and all but one of 12 who saw action scoring, the Bulldogs snapped the Green Archers’ four-game winning streak with a 75-67 victory that had the National U men staying atop their standings and all but bagging the first slot in the semifinals.
“I really didn’t know that I had something like that going,” Pingol, who also had six steals to complete a mammoth all-around effort, said in Filipino after helping the Lady Bulldogs rise to 9-1. “My coaches and teammates helped me achieve this. I couldn’t have done this without them.
“This is also for them,” added Pingol, a member of a couple of title-winning teams who would certainly want to exit as a winner.
Meanwhile, Jeff Napa’s boys stayed on top after improving to an 8-2 card, with the Green Archers dropping to third at 6-4 as the Final Four race in the men’s side—at least for the three other slots—got muddled up even more as National U seems to be the one that’s gotten there ahead of everyone else.
With idle defending champion University of the Philippines more than two games behind in second at 6-3 and Adamson, which was playing Far Eastern at press time and University of Santo Tomas sharing fourth at 5-4, the Bulldogs have all made it back to their Final Four with still four games left.
And the target from here on, obviously, is tabbing one of two twice-to-beat privileges, if not top ranking.
The Bulldogs have the Soaring Falcons, the Tamaraws, University of the East and then the Growling Tigers as their last assignments, with National U shooting to sweep Adamson, Far Eastern and the Red Warriors like it did La Salle.
National U scored a 56-54 win over the Falcons, had an 84-68 victory over the Tamaraws and bamboozled the Warriors, 72-57, in the first round.
But Napa would want to bask in their latest win, giving all credit to his players who laid it all down on the floor against a La Salle crew that had a lot of momentum.
“It’s [all] about those who play on the court,” Napa said after his team weathered foul trouble and made up for the absence of Gelo Santiago, who served the first of a five-game suspension for a dangerous foul on Waki Espina of Ateneo last week. “PJ (Palacielo) was in foul trouble, Paul Francisco fouled out, but we didn’t think about that.
“We think about our mental and physical strength,” he added. “There’s no reason for us to underperform even with our adversities.”
National U led La Salle by as many as 13 points with the Archers coming to within five twice, the last at 72-67 with 67 ticks remaining.
Steve Nash Enriquez paced the Bulldogs with 16 points, while Paul Francisco, despite fouling out, finished with 14 points.
National U leader Jake Figueroa struggled to just five points but managed to still snag eight rebounds, dish out six assists and come up with six steals to help the Bulldogs win their second straight game after their victory over Ateneo.
“We prepared ourselves not just physically but also mentally,” Enriquez said. “We knew they were on a winning streak, but we didn’t think about that.
“We don’t control them. All we can control is our emotions when we play on the court, so that’s how we did our best.”
La Salle got 16 points from Jacob Cortez, with Mike Phillips finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
