MANILA, Philippines—Far Eastern University trusted RR Garcia with the leather in almost every possession in the payoff period—and the reigning MVP fulfilled his end of the bargain.
Garcia drilled in all but six of FEU’s 24 points in the fourth quarter as the Tamaraws overhauled a double-digit deficit to subdue University of the Philippines, 59-53, Thursday in the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Staring at surprising 16 point deficit with eight minutes to play, Garcia turned to his strong suit and relentlessly attacked the hoop with his nifty lay-ins and teardrops and capped it with two booming treys and a baseline drive that tied the game for the first time since the opening tip.
The five-foot-10 guard from Zamboanga City gave the Tamaraws, who snapped an alarming three-game skid, their first advantage, 55-53, since a 2-0 lead after he eluded all his defenders and sank a stunning floater with 1:10 remaining.
“I was really struggling at first, but I got my confidence back in the fourth quarter,” said Garcia, who finished with 25 points and matched the record etched by JVee Casio—now a vital cog in the national team—for the most points scored in a quarter.
“His teammates trust him. I told the boys to give him the ball because I want our veterans to take over,” said FEU coach Bert Flores, whose squad upped its standings to 5-4 for solo third.
“We really had a hard time in the first three quarters. We had problems in rebounding,” added Flores, whose first loss in the tailspin came from the Maroons in the first round.
Although it was not a dominating way to bounce back, Flores could only let out a sigh of relief.
“This is very big win for us. It took time before I [and us] got over the loss to Ateneo [67-47] last week. I couldn’t sleep,” shared Flores.
For most of the game, though, the Tamaraws were helpless in the face of the Maroons’ smoking offense and trailed since the get go—with Garcia just scoring five points in the first half, and Terrence Romeo and rookie Cris Tolomia going scoreless.
The sophomore guard Romeo, after committing crucial turnovers in the game against the Blue Eagles, had another lackadaisical showing with just four points, while Ramos added eight points on a horrible shooting night, four-of-14.
But when FEU got its bearings back, it halted the opponents’ blazing shooting and held the Maroons to just four points in the payoff period—a stark contrast from the first three periods where UP scored by as many as 17 points in a quarter.
Paolo Romero notched his career-best 17 points, while Mike Gamboa and Mike Silungan, who nailed two treys apiece, added 10 points each for the Maroons, who slid further down to 2-7 on a four-game losing streak.
The comebacking guard Gamboa followed up his hot streak by buncorking a triple with 7:50 in the fourth quarter as UP established a 51-35 buffer—but that was before FEU’s furious rally.
Romero, then scored, on a jump shot with 4:28 in the game—but it didn’t do anything to stir the suddenly stagnant Maroons’ offense as they started missing shots after the other.