NUNS, UST forge finals showdown

National University Nazareth School (NUNS) and University of Santo Tomas (UST) overcame their respective foes to arrange a best-of-three finals showdown in Season 87 University Athletic Association of the Philippines boys’ basketball tournament yesterday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

The Bullpups are headed to their second straight trip to the finals after dethroning Adamson University, 64-62, while the Tiger Cubs will be making their first finals appearance in 15 years after beating Far Eastern University-Diliman, 75-63, in their Final Four showdown.

With Gilas Youth standout Joaqui Ludovice spearheading the attack, the Tiger Cubs roared early, posting a 23-11 lead in the opening quarter to dictate the tempo and cruise to their first finals appearance since Season 73 in 2010 when future professional player Kevin Ferrer lost to Kiefer Ravena and Ateneo de Manila University.

Ludovice fired 16 points and four assists while Koji Buenaflor and Charles Bucsit dropped 15 points apiece for the Tiger Cubs, who also drew solid numbers from Kirk Canete and Racine Kane.

“The boys really worked hard for it. As you can see, all the players I fielded delivered,” UST coach Manu Iñigo said.

“They really wanted to win. You can feel it with the way they train.”

The Tiger Cubs will face a dangerous Bullpups squad that edged the Baby Falcons in the other Final Four pairing despite the limited playing time of reigning Most Valuable Player Collins Akowe due to foul trouble.

With their 6-foot-10 Nigerian big man riding the bench, Adamson capitalized early, racing to a 13-2 start and holding a 47-42 lead entering the final frame.

But NUNS’s unheralded lineup of Migs Palanca, Mot Matias, Miekho Natinga, Alnhumaeri Usop and Jedric Solomon sparked a comeback. Back-to-back three-pointers from Usop and Natinga with six minutes left gave the Bullpups their first lead of the game, 53-49.

NUNS extended its advantage to as much as eight, 61-53, with 2:54 remaining.

Adamson mounted one final push, trimming the deficit to two, 64-62, but with just 1.6 seconds left, time ran out on their reign as defending champions.

“First of all, I want to thank my players because this is the kind of game I was looking for from them — Collins was struggling, and we had solid defense on Mac,” NUNS coach Kevin Castro said.

“The biggest question for them has always been: Who is going to step up? This game, Mot stepped up for Jid, Miekho stepped up for Mac, and Miguel stepped up for Collins. So if there’s anyone I should credit for this win, it’s them.”

Palanca led NUNS with a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds while Natinga delivered a career-best 11 points in just 13 minutes. Matias contributed eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Akowe, the presumptive winner of the UAAP’s first-ever Best Foreign Student-Athlete award, missed a double-double for the second straight game, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds before fouling out with five seconds remaining.