Tams ram into Archers’ massive wall

Far Eastern U came well prepared against La Salle’s dreaded pressing defense yesterday, breaking and attacking it with ease in pulling off a 69-62 win in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament before a huge cheering crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Archers pressed practically all day obviously in a bid to rattle the Tamaraws. Ironically, it was La Salle which ran in a maze of errors, and FEU pounded the openings to nail victory No. 6 in the tourney.

The Tamaraws routed the Archers, 26-4, on points off turnovers in their first meeting since their classic title collision last year won by the latter.

Having scored pocket revenge against the Archers, the Tamaraws have a chance to complete a sweep of their first-round assignments against the UP Maroons next week.

And while the Tams stayed well entrenched atop the heap, the Archers moved out of the Magic Four with a third loss against the same number of wins.

Santo Tomas finally scored its first win in the season as the Tigers overcame the NU Bulldogs, 107-100, in overtime early in the day.

The Tigers squandered a 21-point lead (56-35) but were able to keep their composure in extra time after unloading a 9-0 run to seize the lead for good, 99-90 with 1:27 left.

Dave Catamora sent the game into overtime at 88-88 after knocking down a triple with 12 seconds to go in regulation.

The Bulldogs, who even led 91-90 before the Tigers made their decisive move in overtime, remained winless in six outings.

Arwind Santos and Jason Villanueva both played big in leading the FEU attack. Santos had a huge double-double game with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Villanueva tended the backcourt well and came up with key hustle plays, including back-to-back steals that helped the Tams erect their biggest lead at 59-46.

Santos sizzled from all over the court as he even fired three treys — the third and last eventually breaking the back of La Salle at 66-57 with 1:36 left to play.