National University got back to its winning ways after trouncing Adamson, 85-66, in the UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
Following a tough loss to Ateneo on Saturday, the Bulldogs dominated the Soaring Falcons to improve to a 3-2 record.
‘It’s a good response but we still had a subpar performance. We gave too much three-pointers. We need to address that,’ NU coach Jeff Napa said.
‘Against Ateneo, we gave up a lot of triples, same as today, we need to address that but still, this is a good win.’
NU used a red-hot start to dictate the pace against Adamson, which tripped to a 2-2 card.
The Bulldogs led big early, enjoying a 50-35 halftime spread before staving off the Falcons’ fightback in the third period.
Adamson cut the deficit down to six, 58-52, before NU restored order with a 6-0 spurt to end the third.
PJ Palacielo paced NU with 19 points and eight assists while Paul Francisco had 17.
Mo Diassana and Reinhard Jumamoy tallied double-doubles with the former registering 15 points and 12 rebounds and the latter tallying 12 and 10. Tebol Garcia joined the scoring frenzy with 12.
Ray Allen Torres finished with 14 points, Matt Erolon scored 12 while Mathew Montebon and Precious Jonah turned in 11 points a piece for Adamson.