Warriors crush Bulldogs

Games today:

(Mall of Asia Arena)

3:30 p.m. — UP vs Adamson

6:30 p.m. — UST vs FEU

University of the East (UE) rediscovered its outside touch and torched struggling National University (NU), 74-58, to get back on the winning track in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 87 men’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Ethan Galang and Wello Lingolingo waxed hot from afar to lead the Red Warriors’ long-range sniping with combined seven of the team’s season-best 12 triples.

Lingolingo, who was 0-of-6 from the field in UE’s loss to defending champion De La Salle University two weeks ago that snapped its five-game win streak, dropped 12 of his 14 points in the decisive third quarter.

UE improved to a 6-3 win-loss record, strengthening its hold of the third spot, and completed an eliminations head-to-head sweep of NU.

The Red Warriors outscored the Bulldogs, 25-11, in the third period, turning their four-point advantage at the half to a 53-35 separation heading into the fourth.

Nigerian Precious Momowei, who had a spat with teammate John Abate in the second quarter, also had a hand in that game-deciding frame while Rainer Maga drilled a buzzer-beating jumper for the 18-point margin.

Momowei finished with a double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds to go with three assists, one steal and one block for UE, which had an extended rest after the postponement of Wednesday’s match-up against University of the Philippines due to inclement weather brought about by severe tropical storm Kristine.

“Actually, the postponement of game had its positive and negative sides. First, negative, our players got a little bit rusty after that long layoff,” Red Warriors coach Jack Santiago said.

“Positive because the guys had some extra time to recover from injuries and then we gave some minutes to those who had limited playing time.

Lingolingo shot 3-of-7 from the three-point area on a 5-of-9 clip from the field while Galang made 4-of-8 from deep for 12 points while Rainer Maga had nine for UE.

Momowei and Abate had an altercation in the second quarter with UE holding a 21-16 lead and NU making a run.

NU dropped its third straight game and remained at the bottom with a 2-8 slate.

Rookie Tebol Garcia led the Bulldogs with 12 points, while Jolo Manansala added 11 points and eight rebounds.

The Scores:

UE (74) — Momowei 17, Lingolingo 14, Galang 12, Maga 9, Abate 6, J. Cruz-Dumont 5, Fikes 3, Mulingtapang 2, Wilson 2, Spandonis 2, Robles 2, H. Cruz-Dumont 0, Malaga 0, Go 0, Finney 0, Jimenez 0.

NU (58) — Garcia 12, Manansala 11, Figueroa 9, Palacielo 7, Enriquez 7, Parks 3, Lim 3, Tulabut 3, Perciano 2, Santiago 1, Padrones 0, Yu 0, Jumamoy 0, Francisco 0, Dela Cruz 0.

Quarters: 13-6, 28-24, 53-35, 74-58.