Tams survive Archers in 2 OTs

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U used its experience and outsteadied a young La Salle side in the second extra period as it pounded out an 84-80 victory yesterday to remain unscathed in the 73rd UAAP basketball tournament.

Staring at defeat, the Tams battled back from a seven-point deficit with less than four minutes left in regulation to force overtime then played with poise in the second extra period to repulse the Archers and stretch their win streak to five.

“Our experience showed in crucial stretches of this game, it really helped us,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio.

Sophomore guard RR Garcia struggled all game long but still finished with a game-high 18 points. He also had four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two shot blocks.

But he redeemed himself with a crucial steal off La Salle skipper Simon Atkins’ in the closing seconds of regulation then completed the play with a tough drive to force the first OT.

The Tams also drew solid game from Carl Bryan Cruz, a rookie transferee from Metro Manila College who made seven of his eight shots to finish with 16 points while grabbing four rebounds in 18 minutes.

“He (Cruz) really has a good attitude because he’s always ready even though I had used him briefly in our first three games,” Capacio said.

Joshua Webb and Sam Marata fired 17 and 16 points, respectively, for La Salle, which dominated FEU majority of the way but just couldn’t close out the Tams when they needed it most.

But Webb and Marata went scoreless in the second OT, enabling the Tams to seize control.

La Salle appeared headed for another upset after stunning defending back-to-back champion Ateneo, 66-63, last Saturday where it rallied from seven points in the last four minutes to snatch the win.

The Archers were actually 10 seconds away from another win but blew it with a weak inbound pass to Atkins, paving the way Garcia’s heroics in regulation.

 In the other game, University of Santo Tomas did what it does best, hitting the triples in the fourth quarter, as the Tigers held off the National U Bulldogs, 59-58, to grab a share of third place with La Salle at 3-2.

Carmelo Afuang fired 15 points, including nine in the stretch, while Clark Bautista added 14 he highlighted with four of his UST’s five triples in the last quarter that anchored the Tigers’ scrambling victory, their eighth over the Bulldogs since 2006.

NU fell to 2-3.