The taller and bigger Bulldogs ended their UAAP Season 73 campaign with a bang, trouncing Growling Tigers by eight points.
By: Geoff Latayan
Cameroonian rookie and MVP contender Emmanuel Mbe scored 18 points and pulled down nine boards as he led the National University Bulldogs to a 62-54 conquest of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers in the first game of the Thursday doubleheader, Sept. 9 at the Araneta Coliseum.
The 6’7” behemoth came off the bench in the closing minutes of the first quarter and was a workhorse inside the shaded area as he imposed his will intimidating shots and scoring easily over the smaller and struggling Growling Tigers.
Mbe, who is a prime contender for this season’s MVP, also had an assist and one block on 7/9 shooting. He was not alone though as fellow rookie Jul-ashri Ignacio ignited National U’s offense early on as he fired 10 of his career high 15 points in the first half.
From a 44-33 lead in the third quarter, the Bulldogs were scorched by three triples from Growling Tigers’ Jeric Teng, Jeric Fortuna and Clark Bautista cut the lead down to six, 42-48, 2:58 remaining in that quarter.
That was the last time that the España-based Growling Tigers connected from the rainbow territory as they were handcuffed and chased by Bulldogs’ tough perimeter defense.
That lead swelled biggest at 12 points, 58-46 as Mbe made both charities with 6:46 left. UST was able to chop the lead to eight 52-60 after Fortuna’s lay-up but Mbe again was found wide open by Jewel Ponferrada, who scored 10 points, for an easy twinner, sealing a National U win, their seventh in 14 games.
It was the first time that the Bulldogs had ever won over the Growling Tigers since July 29, 2006 wherein they won a 98-85 trampling.
Teng led the Growling Tigers (4-10) with 20 points.
Five keys:
- No land for little Tigers. The Growling Tigers were like cubs against the Bulldogs. They had no match for Emmanuel Mbe and Jewel Ponferrada as they operated inside to chop the bigs of the Tigers. In defense, Mbe and Ponferrada kept the door shut inside as the National U tandem were intimidating shots and getting defensive rebounds.
- Jul was a Jewel. Rookie Jul-ashri Ignacio ignited the Bulldogs from the start and never flickered. He had six quick points and the first and coasted along in the remaining quarters and even had nifty passes to his teammates. He shot 5/7 from the field and had three assists.
- Could he be the Chosen One? Could Emmanuel Mbe save this National U team who has last tasted the basketball crown in 1954. Mbe’s numbers this year will be the yardstick among centers next season. However, the scariest part of it, Mbe is only in his second playing year next season and National U will have a beefed-up lineup next year because of talented recruits. This spells trouble for the other teams in the UAAP.
- Falling in love with the trifectas (over and over again). UST’s strength and weakness is the three point area. If they connect, UST is at its full strength. However, when misses clustered, here comes the pain for the Growling Tigers. The solution for the zone is to take threes and make it but trouble arises when you miss them.
- Benching starters seem to be cool for National U. For the second straight game, National U benched their starters to give exposure and confidence to their second stringers and to give more resistance for the starters in the stretch run. It seemed to have worked as the Bulldogs got their second straight win with a peculiar lineup like that. It’s a genius point for Coach Erick Gonzales.
