MANILA – National University Bullpups and Ateneo Blue Eaglets bested their semifinals foes on Friday to advance to the finals of the UAAP Season 81 juniors basketball at the San Juan Arena.
Terrence Fortea waxed hot in the opening half with five three-pointers to power the top-seed Bullpups to a 94-72 domination over the No. 4 seed Adamson University Baby Falcons.
Fortea finished with 30 points, with 22 coming in the first half, while Cyril Gonzales and Ilonggo Gerry Abadiano added 13 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Bullpups, which hopes to bounce back from a runner-up finish last year.
“We really prepared this game dahil Adamson lang ‘yung tanging team na nakatalo sa amin sa eliminations. Na-execute naman namin ‘yung mga plays. Ang importante is we get ready for the Finals,” said Bullpups head coach Goldwyn Monteverde.
Defending champions Blue Eaglets, meanwhile, overcame a stirring fightback by the Far Eastern University-Diliman Baby Tamaraws to fashion out a 90-82 victory in the other semis pairing.
Down by as much as 21, the Baby Tamaraws were able to cut down the deficit to six points but the Eaglets were able to hold on up to the very end to clinch their second straight Finals stint.
Kai Sotto scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half to go with eight rebounds while Ilonggo Ian Espinosa added 19 points, four assists, three boards and two steals for the Blue Eaglets, which will battle Bullpups in best-of-three finals starting on Monday.
“With only five guys coming back from our championship, kitang-kita naman sa endgame, kelangan pa namin ng experience,” said Blue Eaglets head coach Reggie Varilla./PN
