Tams give Archers some headache

Far Eastern University made life a little more miserable for La Salle as the reigning UAAP men’s champion pounded out a 70-52 victory yesterday and kept its hold of second place at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Tamaraws improved their record to 6-2, showing no ill effects of a big loss to pacesetting Ateneo (7-1) just last week. The victory also avenged their 15-point defeat to the Archers in the first round.

For the Green Archers, champions from 1998 to 2001, their fourth loss in eight games was a bitter pill to swallow. It was actually their second straight setback this season after bowing to University of the East a week ago.

La Salle fell to 4-4 in a tie with Santo Tomas and Adamson. As far as coach Franz Pumaren could remember, this is the worst start for the Taft-based squad since he took over as coach seven years ago.

The Tamaraws were not at the best but managed to beat the Archers who seemed to be at their worst. Just by looking at the stats sheets, there could have been no way La Salle could have won the ballgame.

For starters, the Green Archers shot terribly from the floor, hitting only three of their 27 attempts from three-point area. They made only 19 of their 48 attempts from two-point area and sank only five of their 15 free throws.

La Salle was also beaten in rebounds, 49-46, in assists, 17-11, and in blocks, 8-2. The Green Archers had more fastbreak points, 11-4, more steals, 4-3, and more second-chance points, 16-13. But they hardly mattered in the end for a team that lost by 18 points.

Adamson struggled for 50 long minutes before beating winless National University in double overtime, 70-65, and getting out of a horrible three-game skid that halted what could have been a truly great start this year.

The Falcons won three of their first four when they suddenly turned cold, dropping painful decisions against UE, Ateneo and Santo Tomas while losing starting point guard Ramil Tagupa to a serious knee injury along the way.

It looked like they were headed to a fourth straight loss yesterday against the winless Bulldogs who had a couple of chances, in regulation and both overtimes, to score a breakthrough win this season.

But the Falcons weren’t up to the task. They had a double-dribble violation in the final 6.6 seconds of regulation and a passing error in the last 11.2 seconds of the first overtime. The game was tied when both errors came.

Regulation ended at 54-all and the first overtime at 59-all. In the second overtime, Adamson raced to a 67-61 lead that was cut to 67-65 heading into the final minute. NU had a chance to tie the game but again came another turnover.

It was the second time this season that the Bulldogs went beyond regulation after absorbing an 86-85 overtime defeat to FEU in the first round. The game could have gone the other way if not for a poor buzzer-beating call by a referee, leading to the FEU win.

Mark Abadia provided the fireworks with his 24 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and four steals as the Falcons notched their fourth win in eight games while handing the Bulldogs their eighth straight loss.