INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines ? Ateneo De Manila University bucked a hot-shooting University of Santo Tomas, 81-77, and assured itself of a twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four Saturday in the 73rd UAAP Men's Basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Eric Salamat underscored the victory with 18 points on top of five assists and two steals while sparingly-used sophomore Christian De Chavez exploded for 12 points for the Eagles, who were with the lead since the start of the second period.

The Tigers, who are already out of contention, knocked down 13 three pointers and outscored the Eagles in the payoff period, 32-21, but came in too late as they failed to score in the dwindling seconds after trimming a 19-point lead to three with under a minute left.

Jeric Teng finished with a game-high 23 points while marksman Clark Bautista, mainly responsible for UST's cardiac run, came away with 16 markers on four triples.

In the first game, the Far Eastern University outgunned the University of the Philippines and also grabbed the twice-to-beat advantage.

The Tams remain on top but a loss to the Eagles on Thursday will give the back-to-back champions a chance to be number one via the quotient system.

Meanwhile, La Salle and Adamson will dispute the number three and four spots to determine the rankings in the Final Four.

Under UAAP rules, the number one-ranked team will meet the number four team while the number two team will meet the number 3 team, with one and two enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage en route to the Finals.