Warriors, Tams clash for second semis slot

Given a new lease on life following a favorable decision by the board recently, University of the East takes on Far Eastern University today in a knockout duel for a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four of the 66th UAAP basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Red Warriors’ protest to reverse its 64-65 loss to La Salle last Thursday was upheld by the board headed by Jose Capistrano, Jr. This forged a three-way tie at the helm with the Ateneo Eagles and the Tamaraws on 11-3 slates.

Ateneo thus clinched the top spot, needing only a win over La Salle to barge to the best-of-three finals starting on Oct. 2.

Today’s 4 p.m. duel between UE and FEU is the start of what turned out to be a best-of-three semis duel since the first squad to win twice clinches a seat in the championship round. And UE coach Boyzie Zamar is just too happy to get this far.

"Pasalamat na din kami nakakuha pa kami ng ganitong chance," said Zamar, whose 11-3 slate was a slight improvement to its 10-4 record last season.

"Hopefully we could take advantage of this newfound hope," he added.

Today’s match is a classic example of offense versus defense.

Relying on a variety of weapons in James Yap, Paul Artadi, Arnold Booker and Ollan Omiping among others, the Warriors have the penchant for overwhelming their foes with their offense while the Tams are knowr for their no-nonsense defense.

"Our strength is basically our defense," said FEU mentor Coy Banal. "So our main focus is to disrupt, if not stop, their scorers from doing their thing."