MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U uncorked a 12-0 run to set the stage for a 75-58 drubbing of University of the Philippines as the Tams grabbed a share of the lead in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.
Mac Belo, Russel Escoto, Roger Pogoy and Raymar Jose conspired in a telling run that ripped the game open, 65-49, and sparked the Tamaraws’ second straight victory for 3-1 overall and a tie with the idle University of Santo Tomas Tigers and the Ateneo Eagles atop the standings.
“I think everything started with defense. We made it really tough for UP in the second half, unlike early on when they were able to execute easily,” said FEU coach Nash Racela. “I think the key there was Raymar (Jose), he was turning garbage into gold for us.”
Jose shared scoring honors with Mike Tolomia, shooting 11 markers aside from hauling down 13 rebounds, six of them off the offensive board.
Jett Manuel topscored with 16 for the Maroons, who fell to their second straight loss after a 2-0 start.
Earlier, La Salle stormed to a wire-to-wire 88-71 rout of Adamson to snap a two-game skid.
The Green Archers seized a 24-10 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished control, erecting comfortable margins that reached as high as 56-30 en route to their second victory in four starts.
The Falcons absorbed their fourth straight loss. They played the last 6:46 without coach Mike Fermin, who was ejected after getting slapped with a “disqualifying foul” for making a slit-throat gesture to the referees as he was complaining. He faces outright suspension in AdU’s next game, per Fiba and UAAP rules.
DLSU coach Juno Sauler was far from satisfied though, ruing their big disadvantage in offensive rebounds, eight against 23, and their 22 turnovers.
“We still have a lot of things to improve on, we gave up too many offensive rebounds to Adamson, we turned the ball over lots of time. (We still have) lots of things to address,” said Sauler.