Tams, Lions battle for ‘Olympic’ gold

Far Eastern U outplayed Philippine Christian U down the stretch and pulled off a come-from-behind 67-61 victory to tow San Beda College into the championship round of the basketball competition of the first Philippine Olympic Festival at the Tinga Stadium in Taguig City yesterday.

The Tams fought back from a deficit of as many as 12 points as they put their act together in time to frustrate the Dolphins and complete a sweep of the single round elims among four teams.

Jeffrei Chan and Alfredo Gerilla fired 22 and 11 points for the Tams, who trailed, 10-22, in the first quarter but slowly worked their way back to the game in the next three periods to finish with a 3-0 mark.

Earlier, San Beda used a big scoring run in the third quarter to dispose of National U, 69-55, and close out its stint in the event backed by Globe, Fontana Leisure Park, Petron, AMA Computer Univ. and Creativity Lounge with a 2-1 mark.

Yousif Aljama came away with 14 points while John Escobal tossed in 10 for the Red Lions, who sat on a 17-point cushion (59-42) after three quarters and coasted to victory in the fourth.

FEU and San Beda clash for the gold medal at 3:30 p.m. on June 21 while the Dolphins, who wound up with a 1-2 card, and the Bulldogs (0-3) dispute the bronze at 2 p.m.