The National University looked set to start their UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament campaign in the best way possible.
Sophomore hotshot Dave Ildefonso eluded three Adamson University Soaring Falcons — Aaron Flowers, Simon Camacho, and Lenda Douanga — to sink a basket. His agility gave NU an 83-81 lead with only 1.4 seconds left in overtime.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Douanga then converted a miraculous three-point basket to take away an 84-83 win for the San Marcelino school.
With both schools in their respective dugouts, members of the NU coaching staff re-watched the final play. They then spotted what they thought was a big non-call by the game’s referees.
Jarin shared, “It was a clear five-second violation.”
Nevertheless, the former San Beda University head coach did not take credit away from Franz Pumaren’s team, specifically their hero of the day.
“Not to take anything away from Douanga. Those are the shots you can only dream of,” emphasized Jarin. “We were able to stop their last second play but it ended up with him.
“He threw it up. It just went it.”
At the end of the day, though, the San Beda alumnus is satisfied with how his team competed in their season opener.
“You can’t ask anything more from how the boys played. And, like what I said in the dugout, I’m just proud of how we played.
“We started well, (Adamson) came back. They had the lead, we came back, took it away from them, had an opportunity to win it… before overtime and in overtime also. It’s just the ball did not fall for us today. We were just one rebound away from getting the victory,” he expressed.
While the NCAA Season 92 champion mentor had misgivings about the last play, it is safe to say that he prefers to stick to what he saw from the players of both camps rather than the men who called the contest.
