National University (NU) head coach Jeff Napa is keeping his boys’ emotions in check after accomplishing their initial goal of returning to the Final Four.

With mercury rising in the chase for seats in the semifinals of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 men’s basketball tournament, the Bulldogs got ahead of the pack by earning a passage to the next round with their ninth win in 11 outings.

Napa reminds his team that the job is far from finished.

“Still, this game is a learning process for us, a reminder that we should be ready for the things to come,” the mentor said after barely surviving the challenge of pesky Adamson University, 66-65, last Saturday at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion.

“We have to take care of our own and be ready, especially since it’s the last stretch of the second round.”

NU kept its hold of the solo lead all, thanks to the late-game heroics of Mark Parks when he completed the go-ahead three-point play in the last 10.9 seconds to secure the team’s third straight win.

The Bulldogs returned to the Final Four after missing the cut last year. NU secured a seat with Adamson sliding to a 5-6 win-loss record, and the current fourth-place running Ateneo de Manila University and UST, tied with 5-5 cards, are still scheduled to meet.

Napa and his squad now shift their sights on the coveted twice-to-beat advantage in their last three elimination round assignments — still sans suspended Gelo Santiago.

NU will face Far Eastern University on Wednesday before taking on also-ran University of the East on Saturday and UST on 23 November to end the elims.

“It’s very crucial for us to raise our level of competition. We should be the ones raising the bar, not our opponents. We should be the ones dictating the bar,” Napa said.

He challenges his team to up the ante and to be able to sustain playing at a high level for the bigger picture.