NATIONAL University held steadier in overtime to beat La Salle, 80-77, and capture solo second in the UAAP men’s basketball tournment yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Donn Lim scored a breakaway lay-up to give the Bulldogs a 79-74 cushion when Evan Nelle responded with a wild three-pointer for the Green Archers to stay in the game with 1.3 seconds.

After Kean Baclaan split his charities off a La Salle duty foul, NU was able to escape with the victory after Mark Nonoy’s desperation heave at the buzzer went way off.

Later, Adamson rediscovered its winning ways and withstood Noy Remogat’s 27-point explosion to pull off a 72-65 victory over University of the East.

Monty Montebon drilled in the game’s biggest basket to give the Falcons a 71-63 cushion with 38.4 seconds remaining.

The Bulldogs have now won back-to-back games to elevate their record to 4-1 in the standings, but coach Jeff Napa has other things in mind.

“Ang pakialam ko, especially the players, is how they perform,” said Napa. “Lalo na when we lost against UP, yun yung pinaka concern ko kasi coming to opponents na big teams, we have to be competitive.”

Jake Figueroa had a double-double outing of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Jolo Manansala added 13 points for NU.

Patrick Yu was also huge for the Bulldogs, banking a three-pointer and a jumper that broke the game’s final deadlock at 69-69 with less than two minutes left.

The Green Archers, who were led by Kevin Quiambao’s 25 points, suffered their second loss in five games in a tie with the Falcons in third place.

In women’s play, Camille Clarin shot 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbed six rebounds while her Gilas teammate Stef Berberabe dished out seven assists as eight-peat seeking NU moved in a tie with Ateneo in second place at 4-1 with a 91-53 rout of La Salle.

“Glad that we did our job today right from the get-go. Part of the good start that we had was these two girls (Clarin and Berbarabe) beside me. They did their job early on,” coach Aris Dimaunahan after the Lady Bulldogs won the rematch of last year’s Finals in wire-to-wire fashion.

Adamson, behind Victoria Adeshina’s 12-point, 10-rebound outing, gave Ryan Monteclaro his first head coaching win with a 71-41 demolition of UE.

“Of course, in life in general, we always want to win. Winning is something that gives us relief. Ang goal ko naman talaga is to make the team better. May mga struggles pero getting this first win, hopefully ito na yung magiging breakthrough namin,” said Monteclaro, after the Lady Falcons prevailed in a duel of winless teams.

Napa was relieved to beat the Green Archers in a thrilling game that no team led by more than seven points.

“Yung A game namin and the usual approach, kailangan lumabas para ma-turnaround kung anoman ang sitwasyon na gusto namin. So, nakachamba. Nakachamba kami kasi given La Salle is a very strong team talaga,” said Napa.

“It’s a total team effort. Everybody stepped up. Everybody stepped up to the challenge na binigay ko sa kanila. At least makakahinga na ako ngayon,” he added.

Falcons coach Nash Racela was glad to overcome Remogat’s third quarter explosion that allowed the Red Warriors rally from 15 points down.

“UE is gifted a special player in Remogat,” said Racela.

Montebon finished with 13 points while Ced Manzano also scored 13 points to go along with five rebounds, two steals and two assists for Adamson.

The scores:

First game

NU (80) – Figueroa 15, Manansala 13, Yu 12, John 10, Baclaan 7, Malonzo 7, Enriquez 7, Lim 5, Palacielo 4, Galinato 0, Parks 0.
DLSU (77) – Quiambao 25, Nonoy 10, Nelle 9, M. Phillips 7, Abadam 6, B. Phillips 5, Escandor 5, Manuel 3, Austria 3, Policarpio 2, Nwankwo 2, David 0, Macalalag 0.
Quarterscores: 19-16, 37-37, 52-52, 67-67, 80-77

Second game

AdU (72) – Manzano 13, Montebon 13, Erolon 10, Hanapi 9, Sabandal 8, Yerro 7, Magbuhos 5, Barasi 3, Calisay 2, Ojarikre 2, Ramos 0, Colonia 0, Anabo 0, Barcelona 0, Canete 0.
UE (65) – Remogat 27, Lingolingo 15, Maglupay 5, Gilbuena 4, Cruz-Dumont 3, Galang 3, Wilson 2, Sawat 2, Tulabut 2, Momowei 2, Alcantara 0, Fikes 0.
Quarterscores: 19-16, 38-26, 53-50, 72-65.