MANILA, Philippines --University of Santo Tomas escaped with a nail-biting 79-78 double overtime victory nipping Far Eastern University in the 76th season of the UAAP men's basketball tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City Sunday.
Karim Abdul provided a sterling performance scattering 24 points and 12 boards while Aljon Mariano and Kevin Ferrer also tallied double-double efforts of their own with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 15 markers and 13 rebounds, respectively.
"It's all about the players not giving up. 'Yung effort and desire lalo yung puso andun na ulit. 'Yun ang hinahanap ko na nawala samin," said UST coach Pido Jarencio.
Staring at a 72-76 deficit with less than two minutes remaining in the second overtime, UST rattled a 7-2 run with Abdul accounting for five points.
"It's all about the heart and the will to win. By the end of the first round, I looked at msyelf and I wanted to change and to help our team win," said Abdul.
'I was incosistent but I will always give my best and all my heart And hopefully the whole team play with all their heart too," he added.
FEU had one last chance to win the game when a broken play ended up with Mac Belo in a wide open triple but Abdul blocked the shot.
Belo had another chance but Ferrer stole the ball and was fouled and sent to the line.
The third-year forward missed the first shot and purposely missed the second shot with 1.5 left in the clock as Tolomia threw a fullcourt prayer that missed.
"Akala ko di na matatapos may lakad pa ako ng alas tres late na tayo," quipped Jarencio, in his usual candid post game press conference.
"Today was a total team effort and team win," he added.
UST improved their record to 6-5 assuring them a tie in the top four while FEU dropped to 8-4 trailing NU at the top of the standings.