MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATED) Brothers Juan and Javi Gomez de Liaño starred in University of the Philippines’ (UP) thrilling 89-88 victory over National University (NU) on Sunday, their second straight win of the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament.

Javi fired a career-high 19 points on top of 8 rebounds and 5 assists, while Juan contributed 20 points, 8 boards, 6 assists, and 3 steals as the Fighting Maroons improved to 3-3. They thus earned a share of fourth place in the tournament.

UP benefited from some terrible blunders by the Bulldogs, as NU point guard JV Gallego miscalculated the time in the final possession of the game. Off a missed free throw by Javi, Gallego ran the length of the court and could have attempted a lay-up in the final second, but instead opted to pass the ball as time expired.

“I’m just relieved that we were able to get this win,” said UP coach Bo Perasol.

“The positive way of saying it is, we won while learning. I’d rather have that, than learning and losing,” he also said.

Bright Akhuetie had another impressive performance as well, tallying 21 points (his highest point total in the UAAP) and 20 rebounds while draining a pair of clutch free throws with 58 seconds left.

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Coming off a morale-boosting 67-61 triumph over De La Salle University, the Fighting Maroons appeared poised to cruise to a second straight win after leading by as much as 18 points in the third quarter, 65-47. NU had no answer for the UP guards, with Juan and Jun Manzo repeatedly beating their counterparts to the hoop.

But NU battled back behind Gallego, who sparked a 15-5 run to end the third quarter that allowed the Bulldogs to come to within eight points, 70-62.

UP restored a double-digit advantage in the final frame, thanks to veteran guard Paul Desiderio, who fired back-to-back triples for an 85-75 count with under five minutes left.

The Bulldogs again battled back, with their twin towers of Issa Gaye and Troy Rike. The two helped NU trim the lead to four points, 87-83, with 1:01 left, before Akhuetie knocked down two charities to make it 89-83 with 58.7 seconds to go.

A triple by NU rookie Dave Ildefonso kept the Bulldogs alive, and UP gave their foes a window of opportunity when Manzo bricked two charities. NU made the most of it, with Dave assisting to older brother Shaun for a bucket that made it a one-point game, 89-88.

With the chance to restore a more comfortable lead, Javi proceeded to misfire on two shots at the stripe. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Gallego blew the final possession, sinking them even further down the team standings.

“If we could have just made at least 50% of our free throws, that could have helped us also,” rued Perasol. “But we missed 19 out of 30.”

The Bulldogs have now lost five games in a row to drop to 1-5 in the tournament.

Dave Ildefonso led the team with a career-high 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, while Gallego finished with 13 point, 3 boards, and 4 dimes. Three other players reached double-digits for the Bulldogs, but it was still not enough for them to break out of their slump.

The scores:

UP 89 – Akhuetie 21, Gomez de Liano Ju 20, Gomez de Liano Ja 19, Desiderio 14, Manzo 8, Dario 6, Prado 1, Jaboneta 0, Murrell 0, Gozum 0, Lim 0

NU 88 – Ildefonso D 20, Sinclair 13, Gallego 13, Ildefonso S 12, Gaye 11, Clemente 9, RIke 4, Diputado 3, Morido 2, Yu 1, Joson 0, Aquino 0, Malonzo 0, Tibayan 0, Galinato 0

Quarter scores: 26-20, 47-40, 70-62, 89-88

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