UST shoots down FEU, aims for twice-to-beat

MANILA, Philippines—Flaunting steely resolve down the stretch, University of Santo Tomas powered past Far Eastern University, 77-73, Thursday in the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

The Growling Tigers, who are on a prime spot to even go for the twice-to-beat incentive, leaned on steady freethrow shooting from Chris Camus and Karim Abdul in the last forty ticks which gave them a breather for any of FEU’s end game rallies.

UST, which missed just three of 24 attempts from the stripe, nailed five of its last six freebies.

Camus, the veteran forward, also knocked down a match-evening triple before rookie Kevin Ferrer launched another trey with 1:21 left which swayed the momentum back to UST coming into the final stretch.

“Having momentum is really big, especially in college basketball,” said UST’s mentor for the past five years, Pido Jarencio.

The Growling Tigers, though, did squander an 18-point advantage, allowing the Tamaraws to even lead by three, before hiking up their record to 8-5 with the win.

“It really happens that you lose the lead like that. We came back from 18-points down once. What’s important is you carry the momentum with you until the end,” added Jarencio.

Abdul just proved to be a force down low, banging in 20 points and 13 rebounds with a couple of blocks and steals.

Ferrer, Jeric Fortuna and Jeric Teng added 19, 14 and 11 markers, in that order.

Last season’s MVP RR Garcia, whose clutch trey gave FEU its first lead, 67-64, since the first quarter, paced his squad with 17 points, though on a 3-of-12 shooting from beyond-the-arc.

But Garcia’s effort was erased by the back-to-back triples UST’s lanky forwards.

FEU, though, remains in the running for the twice-to-beat with a record identical with UST.