The National University Bulldogs went from an uplifting loss to a puzzling defeat in a span of four days.
The Sampaloc-based program pushed juggernauts De La Salle University Green Archers to the brink of defeat last Sunday, marking them as the favorite to be the second seed. But the Adamson Falcons exposed the Bulldogs, having toughed out a tight wire-to-wire victory earlier today.
The Bulldogs crawled back from being down by as much as seven points to lead 45-44 in the fourth quarter. But the Bulldogs surrendered second chance points and turnovers in the last two minutes that pushed the San Marcelino cagers to the win.
“We were outplayed again in the fourth quarter. It came down to possessions again.
“We knew it was going to be tough playing Adamson. They’re coming off a good win against Ateneo and we expected to be close at the end,” lamented NU head coach Eric Altamerano.
“The rebounds was a big story for us. We were out-rebounded and there were some possessions that I thought we did a good job defending and then they’d get an offensive rebound and an putback,” he added, as the Bulldogs had been on the other end of the rebounding battle — a rarity in the Alfred Aroga era.
NU were held scoreless for almost four minutes midway through the final frame, and that turned the tides of the game. More striking was the zero-point output of NU’s lead backcourt duo J-jay Alejandro and Rev Diputado.
Altamerano acknowledged that these Bulldogs cannot afford any down time even if they had experienced a “morale”-lifting defeat against La Salle.
“We have to learn from these games. I just reminded them that you cannot overlook any team.
“We have to grind it out and come out with our A-game every game,” the 50-year-old mentor said. “We cannot be contented saying that we played against La Salle so we think that we’re already a contender.”
“You’re only as good as your last game.”
The Bulldogs (2-2) will try to bounce back against the University of Santo Tomas Tigers (2-2) at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, 4 p.m.
