MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern University and Ateneo de Manila, the protagonists in the last UAAP finals, arranged a semifinal showdown in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Pre-season Premier Cup after beating their respective quarterfinal rivals yesterday at The Arena in San Juan City.
The Tamaraws leaned on the 30-point performance of RR Garcia in dispatching De La Salle, 73-68, to set up that interesting Final Four duel with the Blue Eagles, who took care of business on their end by prevailing over Mapua, 63-56.
NCAA champion San Beda, the No. 1 team in Group A, steamrolled University of the Philippines, 97-68, to seal a semis duel with Adamson, which scuttled San Sebastian, 90-81, in the last quarterfinal match.
Garcia presided over an 18-7 assault as the Tams seized control of the match in the third period, 53-40, and maintained a 60-47 bulge with 5:45 left.
And when the Archers bounced back with a searing run in the homestretch, the UAAP Season 73 MVP knocked down six charities in the last 2:38 to help give FEU a 70-65 breathing room, 14.9 seconds left in the contest.
FEU had a scare when DLSU’s Joseph Marata fired a triple to cut the deficit down to three, but the Tams held on to the triumph as Terrence Romeo and Pippo Noundou canned in three charities.
“RR’s experience lifted us today, he played his MVP game,” said FEU coach Bert Flores of his 5-foot-9 guard, who hit five triples and issued five assists.
“We had several lapses, the players seemed overeager having been on a one-week break prior to this game,” said Flores, also giving credit to DLSU’s energy and defensive discipline. “They (Archers) have tremendous intensity, they put pressure from start to finish and we couldn’t afford to relax against them.”
Aldrech Ramos added 12 points and seven rebounds while Noundou had eight markers and 17 boards as FEU maintained its unbeaten run in the tourney dating back to its eight-game elimination campaign.