Tams survive Tigers in UAAP opener

Far Eastern U survived a final-minute blitz by Santo Tomas yesterday to escape with a 66-59 victory as the Tamaraws gave themselves a new UAAP season to look forward to before a jampacked, wildly-cheering crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Tamaraws seemed headed toward a breeze after taking a 62-53 lead in the final 67 seconds only to commit back-to-back errors and allow the Tigers to threaten behind two successive triples by Nino Gelig and Derrick Hubalde.

FEU, losing finalist against La Salle last year, then went 4-of-6 from the stripe in the final 33 seconds to escape with the victory. The Tamaraws, this year's host, won the title in 1997 before the Archers won the next three.

Sharing the opening-day honors was University of the Philippines which had to go through some anxious moments before turning back Adamson, 72-63, thus extending what seems to be an endless losing streak by the Ermita-based Falcons.

The Maroons, in search of their first title since 1986, blew hot and cold and had to rely on Mark Jomalesa’s three triples down the stretch to dispose of the Falcons, winless in 14 games last season.

It was actually Adamson’s 21st straight loss since beating the Tamaraws in August of 1999 and the 41st in their last 43 games. It was the Falcons’ 11th straight loss to the Maroons since 1996 and their 15th straight since Luigi Trillo took over as head coach last year.

"But going into the game, I knew that Adamson is a different team this year with two rookies (Mark Abadia and Ramil Tagupa) playing like veterans. It’s not going to be an overnight success for them but they are going to give some teams a tough time," said UP coach Ryan Gregorio.

Before the opening tip-off, the fullhouse crowd was treated with a state-of-the-art presentation courtesy of host FEU and which needed three months to rehearse. It was an hour-long program well-organized and well-executed that it may be hard to beat in the future.

With spotlights trained on them, three FEU students dressed in what looked like a Muslim costumes staged a mock sworfight while airborne, hanging from the catwalk through a harness attached to their costumes. While they were doing their act, at least 50 dancers did theirs on the court. It was easily the most applauded number.