The NU Lady Bulldogs were far from a celebratory mood after drawing first blood against UST, while the Tigresses refused to have moral victories despite a late rally.
Nine months later, the redemption-seeking NU Lady Bulldogs finally got even with defending champs UST in an early Season 86 Finals rematch with a 75-69 victory.
Yet it was far from a perfect win, with UST nearly dismantling the Lady Bulldogs’ 24-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Bulldogs have been dominant to start their Season 87 redemption bid, but it almost came crashing down against a familiar foe.
For a moment, it seemed like a repeat of Season 86’s Game 3, wherein the Tigresses overcame a 14-point fourth quarter deficit to overcome the NU dynasty. Sure, they ended up stabilizing late, but a 13-27 fourth quarter was too hard to overlook.
“We’re happy with the win, but there’s a lot of work to be done. Moving forward in this season, we have to get better at protecting leads. We know for a fact that this happened last year already, and it happened again today,” NU head coach Aris Dimaunahan said following NU’s 75-69 victory.
UST’s resilience was one thing, but Dimaunahan acknowledged his Lady Bulldogs’ complacency in the fourth.
“It’s not what they’re doing against us. It’s more of us, what we’re doing within our system. I thought we never took care of that ball in the fourth quarter. Madaming open looks for the opponents na na-shoot nila, and hats off to them for making those shots. Pero ganoon yung game. Hindi naman natin mapipigilan lahat,” he explained.
‘Kami, isang quarter lang’
UST entered the game fresh off a “wake-up call” against Adamson. In an early off-game, the Tigresses needed to dig deep as they narrowly escaped the Lady Falcons.
Beating NU could have been the perfect bounce back, only for the defending champs and key players Kent Pastrana, Tacky Tacatac, and Eka Soriano struggling to convert.
“NU deserved to win. They played three quarters, kami isang quarter lang eh. So medyo malalim ‘yung hinukay namin na hihabol. So that’s the story of the whole game… We did not play defense in the 1st up to 3rd quarter, we played good defense, the UST way yung last 4th quarter pa lang,” UST head coach Haydee Ong said post-game.
“So, we need to improve on that. ‘Yun nga, parati kami we start very slow hanggang medyo lumaki na yung lamang bago nagising yung mga players.”
The Tigresses were also outrebounded by NU, 55-45, thanks to foreign student-athlete Jainaba Konateh, and local Angel Surada. The pair combined for 23 out of NU’s 55 rebounds.
Konateh was a big body that effectively hindered the Tigresses’ inferior size inside.
“If you see the stats, talagang halos lahat ng shoot ni Konateh was all in the free throw. So, we have to work better pagdating sa second round in pushing si Konateh out of the shaded lane and do not commit mga fouls early,” said Ong, referring to Konateh’s 17 points built on 11 out of 12 free throws.
Likewise, the Lady Bulldogs also nabbed 23 offensive rebounds that placed UST in early foul trouble for the most part. Consequently, the defending champs gave up 36 free throw attempts to NU, while only having 12 of their own.
“‘Yun nga, I think NU did a very good job in getting offensive rebounds and putting us in early penalty and they got what they got, which is ‘yung mga early free-throws nila,” the champion coach explained.
Mentality was another issue according to Ong. “Medyo mentally checked out kami at the start of the game. So, kailangan namin improve ‘yun. When you play against NU, hindi pwedeng relax, relax.”
Positives for both
But both teams have a share of silver linings. Despite a near-collapse, the NU Lady Bulldogs managed to remain composed amid UST’s furious rally. Following a late Kayla Reliquette triple, it was Surada connecting late to keep NU’s nine-point lead alive.
Additionally, an Angel Surada deuce sealed NU’s victory following a Brigette Santos in the last 40 seconds of play.
“I’m just glad that we made crucial plays down the stretch for us to get a bucket. What I remember was CC [Camille Clarin] passing the ball to Cielo Pagdulagan on the backdoor play. That kind of gave us some cushion before the buzzer sounded,” reflected Dimaunahan.
“The real essence of this game is, what would you do when the other team is making a run, when your team is in adversity. So ‘yun yung challenge namin, paano namin haharapin yun. And I’m glad and happy, but not satisfied again, of how things happened during that stretch.”
But the job is far from finished, despite NU being the last undefeated team for Season 87.
“We’re far from being satisfied because every time you’ll face that team [UST], they won’t go away. They won’t simply go away easily. They’ll find a way to come back. That’s part of their character. And again, we have to be able to check that in the next games na makakatapat namin sila,” Dimaunahan admitted.
UST, meanwhile, found silver linings in Reliquette and Santos, who picked up the scoring load from their struggling seniors. At the same time, it’s a long season, and they could still apply what they’ve learned from facing the Lady Bulldogs.
Again, there’s the need to overcome their lethargic start as the season goes.
“Matagal pa ‘yung season. I remember, ganito rin kami [last season]. We lost 2-0 sa UP at sa NU. So, lessons learned and we have to move forward after this,” said Ong.