BACOLOD pride SamJosef Belangel scored 31 points, 27 in the second half as he almost single-handedly did damage to National University, 78-68 and made Ateneo de Manila University sweep the two-round elimination round at 14-0 in the UAAP juniors' competition.
Belangel hit 10 points with less than three minutes as the Bullpups were leading 68-65 and the Blue Eaglets completed the reversal despite committing 31 turnovers to NU’s 15.
Dave Ildefonso added 16 points, Jason Credo had 11, and Kai Sotto chipped in 10 aside from collectively grabbing 23 rebounds mostly in the first half when Belangel sat out the entire second quarter on fouls.
Miguel Ocson had 17 and Amsali scored 13 for NU which finished 11-3 and joined Adamson University, University of Sto. Tomas, and Far Eastern University in the stepladder games while Atene waited for the championship.
Belangel was hot when the game was on the line shooting eight of 11 from the field, four of six from the three-point area, three of five from the free throw lane, hauled seven rebounds, assisted thrice, and stole the ball once.
Overall it was a team effort with Sotto and Manuel putting the stops as the Blue Eaglets shot 49 percent from the floor against the 30 percent of the Bullpups. NU was up with 8 steals compared to AdMU’s three.
