Tams, Lions steal wins, enter Final 4

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U and San Beda carved out pulsating triumphs over University of the East and Mapua, respectively, yesterday to make the Final Four of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League at the Ynares Arena in Pasig.

The Tamaraws exacted revenge over the Warriors, overcoming a five-point deficit in the last 64 seconds for an 86-85 victory in the rematch of their recent UAAP semifinal showdown.

JR Cawaling and Paul Sanga combined for 43 points with RR Garcia adding 12, including the deciding basket, as the Tamaraws advanced to the last four of the tourney determining the country’s one national collegiate champion.

San Beda, finalist in the NCAA in the last four years, also reached Champs League semis with a 77-75 decision over Mapua.

Both the Warriors and the Cardinals had a chance to pull off victories but missed crucial shots in the closing seconds.

Mark Acosta muffed an open three-point shot for the Cardinals while Val Acuna missed a left-handed lay-up for the Warriors at the buzzer.

Those squeakers gave the Tams and the Red Lions the first two seats in the semis of the event sponsored by PLDT, Smart, Pagcor, ABS-CBN, The Philippine STAR and Molten.

Back-to-back UAAP champion Ateneo and Santo Tomas clash at 2 p.m. then NCAA titlist San Sebastian and Letran collide at 4 p.m. tomorrow in the two other quarterfinals matches.

San Beda faces the winner of the Ateneo-UST tiff while FEU takes on the victor in the SSC-Letran clash in the semis.

Jake Pascual and Bambam Gamalinda churned out double-double outputs for San Beda with the former getting away with 19 points and 12 rebounds and the latter tallying 17 points and 16 assists.

Allan Mangahas paced the Cardinals with 17.

Cawaling topscored for FEU with 25 points with three other Tamaraws also finishing in double-figures as they put to naught Paul Lee’s near triple-double job with 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.