NU goes for back-to-back wins vs. UP

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Jul 19th 2014

National University (NU) had a Tiger for snack last Sunday.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs take a bite at the Statue in the basement.

But NU won’t leave anything to chance today even if it faces the cellar-dwelling University of the Philippines (UP) for the first time in the 77^th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Bulldog square off with the Maroons at 2 p.m, aiming for no less than back-to-back wins to jumpstart their season.

“It’s just one win. We started well. What we have to do now is sustain it in our succeeding games,” NU coach Eric Altamirano said after the Bulldogs debuted with a 59-40 blowout win against back-to-back finalist University of Santo Tomas.

“We played sound defense. They didn’t shoot well. That’s it.”

Veteran court general Gelo Alolino and do-it-all big man Troy Rosario presided over NU’s searing breakaway in the third quarter, giving the Bulldogs an insurmountable 37-23 lead, which ballooned to as much as 20 points in the payoff period.

Alolino finished with 13 points while Rosario and rookie Jess Diputado added nine and eight, respectively.

UP on the other hand absorbed a 59-87 whipping from University of the East on opening day.

Kyles Lao was the lone bright spot for UP, wounding up with 18 points to lead the Maroons, who took their 22^nd straight loss since 2012.

So lackluster was UP’s offense the Maroons could only cough off 20 points in the middle quarters after unloading 16 in the opening frame.

The game will air live at 2 p.m. on ABS-CBN Sports+Action channel 23, BALLS HD SkyCable 167, uaapsports.tv, iwantv.com, TFC Bro and tfc.tv with a same day replay at 8 p.m. on BALLS SkyCable channel 34/ Destiny Cable channel 36.