November 13, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Already qualified in the Final Four, National U marched on and secured at least a playoff for one of the two twice-to-beat incentives with a tough 70-64 win over Far Eastern U in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball at the Mall of Asia Arena yesterday.
MVP contender Jake Figueroa starred in the clutch once again with a dagger triple in the final minute as the Bulldogs claimed their fourth straight win to leap to 10-2 with two games to spare against first-game winner Santo Tomas (6-5), which moved to solo fourth, and winless University of the East (0-11).
With only titleholder UP (8-3) and La Salle (6-4) left as the teams who could rise to 10 wins, NU is already assured of a knockout battle for the No. 2 seed.
But NU wants no complications, bent on pushing forward for a shot at No. 1.
“Wala pa kaming napapatunayan. We know FEU na hindi basta-basta bibigay and the players worked hard for this win pero hindi pa rin kami satisfied kasi alam namin na hindi magiging madali itong papasok na last stretch,” said coach Jeff Napa. “Lagi naming in-explain sa team ‘yung next level na kailangan naming ma-meet.”
Earlier, Santo Tomas scored a wire-to-wire 109-97 win over winless University of the East and ended a horrific four-game losing skid.
The Growling Tigers broke the gates wide open at 33-16 and never relaxed.