Coach Rico Perez and his coaching staff had no sorrows to drown over beer last Saturday evening at his usual watering hole at Dencio's inside the Araneta Coliseum complex in Quezon City.

Instead, he celebrated at a baptismal party of a kumpare over at the UP Village after the National University Bulldogs finally scored their first triumph after skidding to 11 consecutive losses spanning two seasons with an 82-63 stopping of the University of Santo Tomas Tigers in the 67th UAAP Men's Basketball tournament at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The Tigers played without mainstay Christian Luanzon, who was slapped a one-game suspension after incurring technical fouls during UST's previous matches against University of the Philippines and Ateneo.

Without Luanzon, the Bulldogs had little trouble widening an 18-12 first quarter edge behind Dave Catamora and Behn Balijon in the second quarter, scoring nine points which gave them a 38-27 halftime spread.

Catamora tallied 14 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal while Alex Miclat and Cesar Estollano delivered 11 each.

As a result, NU coach Rico Perez found no need to field in chief playmaker Rey Mendoza for the rest of the contest to give his younger players a chance to show their worth.

'I just did not let Rey (Mendoza) play. I let the smaller guys play,' said Perez, who got a big hug from Miclat after the Bulldogs came away with their first victory over the Tigers in two years.

Oscar Crisostomo and Hector Badua unloaded 12 points apiece for the UST Tiger Cubs as they flogged the NU Bullpups, 65-52. and stayed in the junior division standings to hike their winning streak to nine wins.

'Malaking kawalan si Christian sa team. Kalat ang opensa namin ngayon,' said UST coach Nel Parado as the Tigers slipped to fifth at 4-6.

Jemal Vizcarra banged in 19 points for the Tigers and was limited to just six in the third as NU maintained a 54-45 third quarter edge.