Explosive PBA, UAAP wars

THE EXCITEMENT, the thrill of the chase marked the explosive action on both fronts of the PBA and the UAAP last week.

Underdog GlobalPort, which hasn’t been anywhere near the top, provided the most scintillating effort by bringing down hitherto unbeaten Rain or Shine, 113-111, last Friday, in the process causing a four-way leadership jam nearly a month into the Philippine Cup.

Stanley Pringle, the top Draft pick last year, defied three Rain or Shine defenders to score on the drive as the Batang Pier nailed a third win in four games to tie their victims for the lead along with defending champion San Miguel Beer and Alaska.

Talk ‘N Text made it a five-way deadlock for first the next day in Lucena City after Jayson Castro took over in the clutch to boost the Tropang Texters past the Star Hotshots, 91-86.

Castro, the Gilas Pilipinas standout named best guard in the last two Fiba-Asia Men’s Championships, scattered 33 points, the last five in the final minute that stopped the rallying Hotshots for good.

Even lowly Mahindra joined the eye-popping act by ending its losing spell in four games at the expense of NLEX, 103-93.

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As expected, the Growling Tigers of University of Santo Tomas finally secured the twice-to-beat bonus in the semifinals by coasting past Adamson’s cellar-dwelling Falcons, 78-63, Wednesday. Then they ended up with the No. 1 seed in the Final Four after the defending champion National University Bulldogs got back at the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 70-68, Saturday to boost their own semifinal bid.

The loss didn’t matter for the Tamaraws as the second twice-to-beat bonus had earlier been dropped on their laps when University of the East brought down the No. 3 semifinalist Ateneo, 74-69, in Saturday’s first game. The Eagles, who were still in contention for the semifinal bonus until they ran into the Warriors in their last game, wound up with a 9-5 record behind FEU’s 10-3 mark and UST’s leading 11-3.

Even if the Tamaraws tie the Tigers with a victory over the La Salle Green Archers this Wednesday, UST would still emerge as No. 1 due to its back-to-back conquest of FEU.

In avenging their 61-59 loss to the Tamaraws in the first round, the Bulldogs assured themselves of a playoff for the fourth and last semifinal slot by finishing their elimination campaign at 7-7. They can even clinch the slot without sweating it out if the Tamaraws turn back the Archers, the last remaining semifinal hopeful, on the final playdate of the elimination round.

The heartbreak tale last week belonged to the Warriors, conquerors of the Tigers two weeks ago, who hustled back into the race for the last Final Four berth with their great win over the Eagles. But the Bulldogs effectively ended their qualifying hopes with their victory over the Tamaraws.

At 5-8, the Warriors end their schedule against the University of the Philippines Maroons (3-10) in the first game of a double-header Wednesday that was postponed due to Typhoon “Lando” last month.