Mac Belo. Photo Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Far Eastern University trampled cellar-dweller Adamson University, 82-69, Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena to keep its hold of the top seed in the UAAP Season 78 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The Tamaraws improved to 10-1 as they extended their lead to one full game over second seed University of Santo Tomas and moved to within a win of clinching the twice-to-beat bonus in the Final Four.
Tamaraws head coach Nash Racela said his team, with three games before the end of the elimination, is at the right time to reach its maximum potential.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” Racela said.
A major factor that limited the Falcons’ offense was the Tamaraws’ shackle on big man Papi Sarr who was limited to four points, on 1-of-6 shooting, and eight boards.
“I was satisfied we executed our defensive game plan at least on Sarr,” Racela said.
Trailing 66-50 at the end of the third, the Falcons started the fourth on the right flight path and went on a 14-2 run to cut the Tamaraw lead to 68-64 midway.
FEU, however, answered Adamson with a 12-0 run capped by Raymar Jose cleaning up Mac Belo’s miss in transition for a 80-64 lead with 3:03 remaining in the game.
Russel Escoto was the high-point man for FEU with 13 points while Raymar Jose added 12 points and seven boards.
With the Tamaraw bigs having their hands full on Sarr, the little guys grabbed the rebounds as Monbert Arong grabbed 11 boards to go along seven points while Mike Tolomia recorded a nine-point, eight-board line.
Jerome Garcia led all scorers with 16 points for the Falcons while Joseph Nalos added 15.
Adamson, coming off a huge upset win over La Salle last Saturday, dropped to 2-9.