Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup: National U Bulldogs win a close game against the FEU Tamaraws

Alfred Aroga of National University goes for an easy layup in the game against FEU.
(Photo by Roy Afable)

The National University Bulldogs are by far one of the top teams in the 2013 Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup. They are after all the the defending champs in this Summer hoops tournament. In their game against FEU on Tuesday, this clearly reminded me of their, shall we say, intense rivalry back in UAAP season 75.

As expected, it was a close one yet it was a low scoring game from both teams that day. FEU clearly focused their D on Ray Parks Jr. although he finished with 18 points. But the Tams forgot about NU's Alfred Aroga, who has been getting a lot of playing time while waiting for Jean Mbe to get back into shape. Speaking of Mbe, he played his first game and was a starter that day but with limited minutes -- 13 minutes to be exact -- and having scored just 3 points. Not exactly the kind of game Mbe played after rejoining his team. 

On the other side of the fence, Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia are still the go-to-guys for newly appointed FEU Head Coach Nash Racela. The transition of playing with a new system is quite understandable. Kinda like the coaching switch of the UE Red Warriors last year from former Coach and PBA Legend Jerry Codinera to Boyzie Zamar. It's gonna take a while for the Tams to get used to playing under Racela which I'm sure these same FEU Tamaraws team will be Final Four contenders once more in Season 76 of the UAAP.

Romeo and Garcia chalked up 24 and 14 points respectively -- typical numbers these guards produce for each game. Mike Tolomia didn't really produced big numbers for this game. For a wing player like him, his main task was to shutdown NU's Ray Parks Jr from scoring buckets. Big man Anthony Hargrove made his presence felt early in the first quarter with a thunderous dunk but was clearly frustrated with the officiating late in the game. 

In the end, the National University Bulldogs prevailed with a 67-64 win over the FEU Tamaraws. Alfred Aroga had a double-double performance finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 1 steal and a block. Those are Jean Mbe numbers! 

Meanwhile, the SouthWestern University Cobras defeated the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals 80-75. Center Landry Sanjo was the high point man for SWU with 23 points, 16 boards, 5 blocks, dropped 1 dime and had 1 steal. 

Jaymark Perez lead the San Sebastian Golden Stags with a thrilling OT win against the UE Red Warriors 89-87. He finished 20 points, pulled 10 boards, dropped 7 dimes and made a couple of steals for the Stags. The other hero of the Stags, Gio Vergara -- who made the biggest shot of his collegiate playing career -- with a shocking 3-pointer on the UE Red Warriors and was the only field goal he scored that day.