Eagles rally past Tams; Archers win

Games on Tuesday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

2 p.m. – UST vs UE

4 p.m. – UP vs AdU

One big fight-back. 

MANILA, Philippines - Unleashing the no-quit attitude that served them well in earlier come-from-behind victories, the Ateneo Blue Eagles rallied to a 68-64, overtime win over Far Eastern U Tams to finish No. 1 in the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball elims at the Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

Nearly given up for dead after getting into a deep hole, 36-55, the Blue Eagles painstakingly wiped out the 19-point deficit in the last six minutes of the fourth and played steadier in extension to pull off their 11th win in 14 outings.

La Salle stepped on the gas in the second half to run away with a 68-56 rout of National U to formalize its semis entry while booking a playoff for No. 2 with the Tams.

The Archers triggered an 11-2 salvo in the third to take command and poured it even more in the payoff period to cap their elims slate with 10-4, tying FEU at second. They will play the Tams in a virtual best-of-three semis showdown beginning next week.

The Bulldogs wound up with 9-5 and may figure in a rubbermatch for the fourth and last F4 seat if fifth-running University of the East (8-5) hurdles University of Santo Tomas in its last match on Tuesday.

Almond Vosotros (15), Arnold van Opstal (14), and Norbert Torres (13), led DLSU, easing the load on  top guns Jeron Teng and Jason Perkins, who shot nine and eight, respectively.

“I think we’re more scary if we involved the others,” said DLSU coach Juno Sauler. “Everyone was trying to help each other out. We didn’t want just one or two guys involved in offense but getting the ball to different people and making sure everyone gets a touch.”

The Eagles’ come-from-behind squeaker secured the top seeding and twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four for AdMU.

“It’s partly mental. I don’t wanna give up in the end. Ang laki ng hinabol namin, 19 points, sabi ko sa teammates ko, ngayon pa ba tayo bibigay (It was a huge deficit we had to overcome. I told my teammates not to give up at this point) so I guess even though we’re a very young team, napakita namin at least (we showed) a little maturity in the end,” said Kiefer Ravena, who topscored with 23 points.

Ravena shrugged off a poor shooting game (5-of-28) and stepped up to the plate in the crunch, firing nine in a 19-2 blast and forced a 59-all standoff, 20.3 seconds left in regulation. Ravena nearly turned goat when he fouled Mike Tolomia but the FEU ace botched his two freebies with 2.8 seconds left.

The 6-foot Ravena missed a jumper at the buzzer, setting the stage for extra five minutes. It wouldn’t stop the Ateneo machine, though, as Nico Elorde buried a trey, Ravena cashed in his two charities, then Chris Newsome scored a bucket for the Eagles’ first lead, 66-59, going to the last 2:24 of OT.