UNIVERSITY of the East stretched its winning streak to 10 yesterday but not after getting a big scare from a gritty National University squad that had threatened to pull the rug from under the Red Warriors only to collapse in the stretch at the Araneta Coliseum.

Although his charges lost their concentration and committed a lot of turnovers, coach Dindo Pumaren willed them to hold their ground and the Warriors responded by turning back the Bulldogs 70-66 before a stunned crowd that held its breath up to the last buzzer.

"NU played well, we played bad. Nawala ‘yung concentration namin and we committed a lot of turnovers. Ito na ang pinakamahirap na panalo namin, dinaan na lang namin sa tiyaga," said UE coach Dindo Pumaren, whose charges solidified their bid for the first finals berth in the 70th season of the UAAP seniors basketball championship.

To the horror of the UE crowd, the Bulldogs took a 66-65 lead on a lay-up by Michael Salvado with 30.3 seconds left but breathed a collective sigh of relief when the much-improved Pari Llagas scored on a put-back of Paul Lee’s miss with 21 seconds left.

The Bulldogs, considered by many as a Final Four contender, tried to regain the initiative but Chris Catamora, forcing the issue, missed two attempts against UE’s big men.

Marcy Arellano went 3-of-4 from the free throw line the rest of the way to seal the win.

Earlier, La Salle got off to a hot start and held the upperhand throughout to score a 75-55 win over Adamson.

Rico Maierhofer and JV Casio finished with 12 points apiece to help the Green Archers notch their seventh win in 10 games.

Bryan Ilad and Ty Tang combined for 18 points, as the Archers moved up two games ahead of joint third-placers UST and FEU, both at 5-4.

Adamson dropped to 1-8 and bowed out of contention for the Final Four. The Falcons’ only victory was scored against cellar-dwelling UP 95-76 on Aug. 2.

"I think Adamson lost the motivation to win and we simply took advantage of it," said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren.

The Archers built a commanding 25-8 lead at the end of the first quarter then further pounded on the Falcons to pad the lead to 69-44 with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter.

To advance to the finals outright, the Red Warriors need to sweep their last four games, including one against La Salle on Sept. 15.

Shaken by their near-misadventure against the Bulldogs, Pumaren downplayed the prospects of his charges wielding the broom anew in the second round, insisting anything can still happen.

"It’s still a long way to go. We don’t want to think about that now (second round sweep). Many teams are improving," he said.

Arellano led the way for the Warriors with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Kelvin Gregorio and mark Borboran scored nine points each.