MANILA – The National University (NU) completely obliterated the College of St. Benilde (CSB) in overtime to score an 88-72 win in the quarterfinals of the FilOil EcoOil Preseason Cup on Wednesday night at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Jake Figueroa saved the day for the Bulldogs as he nailed a corner triple in the dying moments of regulation to force overtime, and his teammates then held the Blazers scoreless for the entire extra period to pull away.
"Na-BDO namin ngayon (We pulled off a BDO today)," NU coach Jeff Napa said in jest in an ode to the bank's tagline "We find ways."
"Eto yung mga kailangan nilang pagdaanan, na masusubukan yung character ng (These are what we need to go through to test the character of the) team. We were down, so paano namin babawiin (how can we bounce back)? Kahit napakasama ng laro namin (Even if we had a bad game), we had to find ways to win," he added.
Steve Enriquez led the Bulldogs, the defending champions of the preseason event, with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Figueroa and Omar John each added 16 markers.
Felipe Marasigan led CSB with 12 points and five rebounds.
In the other games, Far Eastern University (FEU) ripped Jose Maria College Foundation (JMC), 96-65, while Letran edged Guang Ming College (GMC), 85-73, at the start of their play-in series for the last two spots in the quarterfinals.
FEU and Letran can complete a sweep of their respective two-leg series on Thursday.
Letran, however, will have to play GMC again at a 10 a.m. tip-off to have more time to prepare for its PBA D-League Aspirants Cup semifinal duel against arch rival Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda, scheduled to start at 4 p.m., at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig. (PNA)
