MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U benefited from a last minute change in the starting rotation as it hammered out a merciless 65-51 win yesterday to seal its first win and send last year’s runner-up La Salle to its worst start in more than two decades in the 72nd UAAP basketball tournament at the Big Dome.
After starting talented rookie RR Garcia at point guard and Reil Cervantes at center in a painful 59-63 loss to defending champion Ateneo last week, FEU coach Glen Capacio this time started with rookies Pipo Noundou of Cameroon and Fil-Am Casey Caluag.
The Filoil/Flying V MVP Cup MVP, fired 12 points, Cervantes had 11 points and 13 rebounds off the bench while Noundou and Caluag combined for six points and seven boards and provided the spark, the stability and the defense to help seal the Tams’ first win.
Smart Gilas Pilipinas standouts Mark Barroca, JR Cawaling and Aldrech Ramos, the other starters, had 15, 10 and eight points, respectively, to help in the cause.
“I need to do it because we can’t have all scorers in our starting five, we also need to put in some role players there. That’s what I did,” said Capacio.
La Salle fell to its first 0-2 (win-loss) start since they went 0-3 23 seasons ago, the same year the Taft-based school jumped from the NCAA to the UAAP.
Earlier, Adamson held State U to just two foul shots in the final three minutes as it eked out a 72-68 victory, its first in two starts.