UNIVERSITY of the Philippines dodged the upset axe in a 80-76 overtime win over a surprisingly tough Far Eastern University to remain unscathed in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Jan-jan Felicilda scored 17 points, including a lay-up in the final seven seconds that sealed the Fighting Maroons’ fourth consecutive victory.

Despite playing without Cholo Añonuevo, the Tamaraws battled tooth and nail with the Season 84 champions before dropping their fourth consecutive game.

It was a double celebration for UP, as its women’s team staved off FEU, 64-61 to extended its perfect start to four at the AdU Gym.

In her second game with the Fighting Maroons after completing national team duties, Louna Ozar came through with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals as the Diliman-based cagebelles overcame a Lady Tamaraws fightback from 11 points down to extend their perfect run to four games.

In other men’s contests, National University rediscovered its winning ways with a 87-69 dismantling of University of Santo Tomas, while defending champion Ateneo needed to dig deep to topple University of the East, 76-69, and even its record to 2-2.

Christian Luanzon, coach Goldwin Monteverde’s trusted first assistant, was glad to see UP displayed tremendous composure in a close game after winning the first three contests in double digits.

“As coach Gold says, every game is a chance to improve. Coming into today, there were stuff we wanted to emphasize. Some successful, some not. It’s part of our growth,” said Luanzon.

After the Tamaraws were called for the backcourt violation, the Fighting Maroons had a chance to win in the final 1.7 seconds of regulation, but Malick Diouf’s follow-up off a Francis Lopez missed potential game-winning fadeaway jumpshot at the buzzer was ruled a basket interference.

FEU missed its usual starter Añonuevo due to a fractured right hand, UP was without Gerry Abadiano, who is under concussion protocol.

CJ Cansino, who assisted Felicilda’s game-sealing lay-up, added 14 points, while reigning MVP Malick Diouf posted his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 20 rebounds for UP.

“Sabi nga sa amin palagi ni coach Gold, kumbaga dapat ready kami sa anumang sitwasyon mahirap o madali, dapat malagpasan nain yung mga challenges na yun,” said Felicilda, who also had four rebounds and two assists in more than 20 minutes of action.

Jorick Bautista was solid for FEU with 26 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Ljay Gonzales added 19 points and nine rebounds.

The Bulldogs bounced back big from last Saturday’s beating from the hands of the Fighting Maroons to move up to 3-1 in the standings with Mike Malonzo leading the way with 14 points and six rebounds and Ian Manansala stepping up with 13 points.

“Credit to them (players). Sila ang gumawa ng game plan, sila ang nag-execute,” said NU coach Jeff Napa.

The Growling Tigers, meanwhile, stumbled to their fourth consecutive loss.

It was not the prettiest of victories, but the Blue Eagles will take it, as they held the Red Warriors held scoreless in the final 3:16.

“I though our first half we didn’t play good defense and it was individual letdown, the intensity wasn’t there. Third quarter wasn’t much better but the fourth quarter was. We really dug down deep and defended much more intelligently,” said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin.

Kai Ballungay led the Blue Eagles with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while Nigeria’s Joseph Obasa added 16 points, eight boards, six blocks and three assists.

In other women’s games, Karl Pingol had 13 points and nine rebounds while Angel Surada produced a double-double outing of 11 points and 11 boards as titleholders NU pinned UST its first loss of the season with a 76-64 victory, tying its victims and Ateneo, which cruised past UE, 72-60, at 3-1.

Lee Sario shot 20 points as La Salle finally barged into the win column with a 63-55 conquest of Adamson.

The scores:

First game

UP (80) – Felicilda 17, Cansino 14, Diouf 11, Lopez 9, Alarcon 8, Torres 6, Torculas 6, Cagulangan 5, Alter 4, Pablo 0, Gonzales 0, Briones 0, Belmonte 0.
FEU (76) – Bautista 26, Gonzales 19, Torres 9, Ona 8, Sleat 7, Torres 4, Alforque 3, Faty 0, Bagunu 0, Buenaventura 0, Competente 0, Montemayor 0.
Quarterscores: 17-13, 35-38, 54-56, 68-68, 80-76

Second game

Ateneo (76) – Ballungay 18, Obasa 16, Brown 11, Koon 7, Amos 6, Lazaro 5, Tuano 4, Quitevis 4, Nieto 3, Bongo 2, Espinosa 0, Gomez 0.
UE (69) – Galang 12, Momowei 12, Lingolingo 12, Remogat 9, Cruz-Dumont 8, Wilson 7, Sawat 7, Tulabut 2, Gilbuena 0, Alcantara 0, Fikes 0.
Quarterscores: 18-22, 43-38, 59-58, 76-69

Third game

NU (87) – Malonzo 14, Manansala 13, Figueroa 11, Enriquez 10, Galinato 9, Baclaan 7, Palacielo 4, John 4, Jumamoy 4, Delos Reyes 4, Lim 4, Parks 3, Gulapa 0.
UST (69) – Manaytay 18, Cabañero 16, Crisostomo 8, Calum 7, Llemit 7, Pangilinan 5, Laure 4, Lazarte 2, Manalang 1, Moore 1, Duremdes 0, Magdangal 0, Ventulan 0, Gesalem 0.
Quarterscores: 30-14, 48-26, 66-46, 87-69.