MANILA, Philippines - The University of Santo Tomas Tigers erased the nightmare of a disappointing performance in their last game, showing their teeth in an emphatic 85-76 beating of league-leader Far Eastern U last night in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Tigers willed themselves back from an early 14-point deficit and turned things around with a gutsy effort in the last three quarters to get back on track after a stinging 77-91 setback to University of the East only last Wednesday.
It was the 10th win against three losses for the second-running Tigers, who also boosted their shot at the twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.
The Tams, who saw their nine-game streak snapped, remained on top with 10-2, their twin setbacks dealt by the Tigers.
“The character of the team showed. We were down early but we never gave up,” said UST coach Bong dela Cruz. “We prepared hard for this game and I didn’t hear any complaints from the players during practice. The efforts paid off.”
A hungry-for-respect Adamson University squad, meanwhile, picked up its third win in 13 games via a 74-71 disposal of University of the East. The Warriors, who were hoping to get momentum from their huge upset of UST Wednesday, fell to 4-8.
Its outside shooting clicking, FEU led by as many as 36-22 and seemed on its way to blowing UST to smithereens. But the Tigers persevered, knotted the count at 45 at the turn and went full throttle in the second half to seize an 81-68 cushion going into the last 4:59.
“We just stuck with our defensive plan. FEU was just making the outside shots but we kept on defending until they couldn’t make their shots and our offense followed,” said Dela Cruz.
Karim Abdul fired 23 points while Kevin Ferrer, who had to leave the game for a few minutes to recover from what he felt was chocolate-induced palpitation, added 21. Mario Bonleon provided a huge lift off the bench with 13, making nine in the payoff period.
Mike Tolomia (17) and Francis Tamsi (15) paced FEU.
AdU coach Mike Fermin, whose vacation-bound wards added UE to their list of victims in the company of University of the Philippines and La Salle, said they wanted to earn the respect of the opponents.
“Going to this game, I told the guys we haven’t gained the respect of the other teams because after our win over UP, they quickly got back at us, then after beating La Salle, we got blown out by FEU. I told them to gain respect, we need to win this game.”
Import Papi Sarr muscled his way to 22 markers and 20 boards as AdU tripled its one-win performance last season with still a game left in its elims slate.
The Falcons opened the third quarter with a 16-0 blast to seize a 20-point lead. The Warriors mounted a fierce rally in the fourth and made a game out of it but AdU hung tough, with Joseph Nalos putting the finishing touches with insurance charities with 15.7 seconds left.
UE’s Clark Derige followed up a career game with a team-high 17 markers and 10 boards.