MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U made key stops in overtime as it turned back a stubborn La Salle, 71-69, yesterday to clinch the other twice-to-beat incentive while dealing its foe a huge blow in its Final Four bid in the 72nd UAAP basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Reil Cervantes and rookie RR Garcia chalked up 20 and 18 points, respectively, although it was their defense in overtime that sealed the Tams‘ 11th victory in 13 outings, the Final Four bonus and a realistic chance of finishing No. 1 after the elimination round.
To clinch the top seeding, FEU would need to beat defending champion Ateneo by five points or more when the two pre-season favorites collide next week at the Big Dome in what could be a sneak preview of this year’s best-of-three finale.
“We’re happy we’ve clinched the twice-to-beat advantage because we know how important it is to have that edge and we experienced that last year,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio, who lost the playoff for No. 2 the first Final Four game to La Salle last season.
“We have to give our 100-percent when we play Ateneo because we want to be No. 1,” said Capacio, who lost to the Eagles in their first round encounter, 63-59, last July 11.
Earlier, University of the East waylaid National U, 70-59, to clinch the No. 3 seeding in the Final Four.
Paul Lee led all scorers with 17 points he laced with three booming triples to seal the win for the Warriors, who would need to beat the No. 2 seed twice to advance to the finals since it did the trick with a historic elimination round sweep two years back.
“We just want to gain enough momentum going to the Final Four and hope for the best there,” said UE mentor Lawrence Chongson, who on his rookie season has steered the Recto-based school to its eighth straight Final Four stint.
The result sent the Archers reeling to their eighth defeat against five wins or a step closer to elimination.
It’s not the end of the world though for the Archers as they could still forge a playoff for the last Final Four berth provided they could beat the National U Bulldogs on Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum and the Santo Tomas Tigers lose their last two matches.
UST, idle at No. 4 with a 6-6 (win-loss) record, could end the suspense with a win either today against Adamson at 2 p.m. at The Arena or on Thursday against University of the East at the Big Dome.
For the uninitiated, La Salle has always made it through the post-season a record 14 straight times or since the Final Four format was introduced 15 seasons ago.
This could be the first.
La Salle erased a seven-point deficit with over three minutes remaining in regulation after talented neophyte Joseph Marata buried a pair of triples that forced extra time.
After Garcia split his charities to give FEU a two-point cushion, the Archers had another chance to force an extension but Marata missed a jumper at the buzzer.