Ericka Alcantara | FCF

On Saturday, it’s win or go home for either University of Santo Tomas or National University.

Facing a heavy task of overcoming a twice-to-beat disadvantage, UST kept their UAAP Season 76 campaign alive by knocking off NU, 71-62, in their half of the men’s basketball Final Four bracket on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Kevin Ferrer, who had the unenviable task of locking down former two-time MVP Bobby Ray Parks, put up a brisk 14 points on 4-for-9 shooting from long range, with five rebounds. Frontcourt partner Aljon Mariano and spot-up shooter Clark Bautista each had 12 points apiece.

“Nakuha namin yung rhythm namin, offensively (and) defensively,” said Santo Tomas head coach Pido Jarencio of their team’s performance.

The Tigers led by 16 at the break, but the Bulldogs slowly chipped away at the lead in the second half mostly due to the efforts of Parks and Gelo Alolino.

Midway through the final period, NU mounted a 14-3 run that cut their deficit to just five. But big man Jean Mbe missed what could have been a game-changing dunk that led to a Jeric Teng trey on the other end that aided UST’s pullaway.

In the insuing play, Parks aggravated his left wrist injury and the team could not make a final push to salvage the win.

NU head coach Eric Altamirano offered not to tender any excuse and praised their España counterparts’ performance.

“UST really showed their championship experience so we got intimidated early in the first quarter and lost our discipline all throughout, and it’s hard to come back in the second half with a big deficit. Hopefully we could correct those mistakes in the second game,” said the third year tactician for the Bulldogs.

Alolino led all scorers with 17 points with seven rebounds, while Parks added 14.

The rubber match between the two schools will be on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena, with the game time to be determined at a later date.