At this point, quitting is the last thing on the mind of National University Nazareth School.
Stacked against a mighty Adamson University squad, the Bullpups rallied from 15 points down in the second half to book a thrilling 67-64 win and force a winner-take-all battle in Game 2 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines high school boys basketball tournament best-of-three title series yesterday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
The Baby Falcons were poised to snap a 31-year title drought after erecting a 48-33 lead in the third period but the Bullpups refused to surrender, waging a red-hot rally to grab a 66-62 lead en route to the victory that kept their title hopes alive.
The deciding Game 3 is set at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the same San Juan City venue.
“The job is not done yet,” said Bullpups center Collins Akowe, who finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
“We still have one game which is on Sunday. We cannot afford to relax. It’s a do-or-die match now. We will give our all to win the game and win the championship.”
Klein Taonga also had 16 points, four boards, three assists, and two steals but he was ejected early in the fourth for flopping on top of the unsportsmanlike foul that he committed in the first half.
Earl Medina also waxed hot in the first half, scoring 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting to finish with a game-high 23 points.
Prior to Game 2, Akowe was formally crowned as Most Valuable Player after towing the Bullpups to the title series.
The Cameroonian big man posted 96.714 statistical points built on averages of 17.14 points, 21.07 rebounds, 2.21 blocks, and 1.64 assists per game to emerge as the second straight Bullpup and the first foreign student-athlete to win the highest individual honors.
Reinhard Jumamoy, who eventually joined the NU seniors team, won the award last year.
But Akowe said the honor will be nothing if they will not bring home the title.
“I promised my coach I would give him the championship. I made that promise from the very beginning,” the 6-foot-10 Akowe, a Grade 11 center, said.
“I need to fulfill my promise. I need to give it all I have to win the championship.”
Joining Akowe in the Mythical Team are Kieffer Alas of De La Salle Zobel with 89.727 SPs, Kristian Porter of Ateneo High School with 85.786 SPs, Andrei Dungo of University of Santo Tomas with 81.286 SPs, and Tebol Garcia of Adamson with 72.385 SPs.
Alas, a Grade 10 forward, put up numbers of 20.36 points, 10.82 rebounds, 5.27 assists, and 1.27 steals in 11 games played while graduating forward Porter, who made his second consecutive Mythical Team appearance, logged averages of 17.86 points, 15.79 rebounds, 2.14 steals, and 1.71 assists per game.
Dungo, a transferee from San Beda-Taytay, averaged 14.86 points, 8.07 rebounds, 4.36 assists, and 2.79 steals in his sole year at UST while Garcia normed 12.92 points, 5.23 assists, 3.08 rebounds, and 1.92 steals en route to becoming the first Baby Falcon to make it to the all-UAAP team since former league MVP Jake Figueroa back in Season 82.
Meanwhile, Nathan Egea of University of the Philippine Integrated School was named Rookie of the Year with 58.500 SPs built on 10.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.
