NU’s Jake Figueroa celebrates throughout a sport towards Ateneo within the UAAP Season 86 males’s basketball match.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.internet
MANILA, Philippines–Jake Figueroa hit the photographs that mattered most as Nationwide College survived Ateneo by the pores and skin of its enamel, 65-61, on Saturday night time within the UAAP Season 86 males’s basketball.
Figueroa buried a go-ahead three and coolly sank the game-clinching free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining, definitive efforts that bolstered the stance of the Bulldogs whereas placing the defending champions on eggshells for the rest of the match.
Rookie Reinhard Jumamoy additionally sparkled, leaping on the probability in subbing for injured beginning guard Steve Nash Enriquez with a near-impeccable efficiency that helped the second-running Bulldogs safely comfy at 8-2.
“I can say that it was a hard-fought win. Final time, we clearly lack the trouble and we actually emphasised that in our conversations with the staff,” stated NU coach Jeff Napa after bouncing again from a piercing defeat against the La Salle Green Archers.
“Tonight, we crammed up all of the issues we lacked.”
Jumamoy nailed his first eight of 10 photographs, together with 5 threes, in prime scoring with 21 factors whereas Figueroa scored 11 of his 18 within the payoff interval punctuated by that essential five-point swing within the ultimate minute.
NU’s Reinhard Jumamoy.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.internet
“He’s (Enriquez) our chief and we glance as much as him. I simply made essentially the most out of the chance and the belief the coaches gave me,” stated Jumamoy, final season’s UAAP junior’s MVP with the NU Bullpups.
Joseph Obasa completed with 11 factors and Kai Ballungay added 10 for the Blue Eagles, who had a number of alternatives to show all the things round however simply couldn’t ship.
Jared Brown flubbed what appeared like a straightforward layup on a break off a steal, however the dagger for Ateneo got here when a driving Chris Koon opted to cross to a reducing Balungay as a substitute of taking it robust to the ring earlier than the leather-based was deflected and landed on Figueroa’s fingers.
The Blue Eagles absorbed their third straight defeat, touchdown fifth with a 4-6 file, the primary time they misplaced three video games in a row since Season 76.
It was likewise the primary time NU swept the Blue Eagles in a season after attaining the trick again in 2014.
Nash dislocated his jaw towards the College of the East Warriors and had gone by surgical procedure.
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The flashy 5-foot-8 guard is anticipated to go well with up in a month’s time, permitting Jumamoy to show that his magnificence isn’t a flash in a pan.