No comeback for ill-fated Cats

BUT FOR two disappearing acts, University of Santo Tomas, not Far Eastern University, should have been celebrating the UAAP men’s basketball championship this year.

This is not to detract from the great effort the FEU Tamaraws, led by their Big Three of Mac Belo, Mike Tolomia and Roger Pogoy, pulled off in raising their league-leading collection of titles to 20 last Wednesday. In nailing their first crown since 2005, the Tamaraws also wiped out the bitter memory of their loss last year to the National University Bulldogs, who swept the last two games of their best-of-three championship series.

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It was just too hard to ignore the mysterious disappearance of two key players in the title playoffs that eventually doomed the Tigers in their bid for a 19th title overall.

Basically a team of forward Kevin Ferrer, center Karim Abdul and guard Ed Daquioag, the Tigers—seeking their first championship since 2006—just didn’t get maximum performance from all three in the title series.

Daquioag was MIA (missing in action) with only four points when the Tamaraws captured the title series opener, 75-64, and Ferrer, of all Tigers, could just score six in the decider won by FEU, 67-62.

Ferrer’s gruesome performance in the season’s biggest and most important game came three days after the former Batang Gilas standout had shot the lights out of Smart Araneta Coliseum with a 29-point explosion. Unerring from the quartercourt, Ferrer unloaded 24 points alone in the third quarter, six of them three-pointers, as the Tigers extended the championship to a winner-take-all match, 62-56.

The 6-foot-4 Ferrer did break the ice for UST in Game 3 with a triple. But it was not until early in the last quarter that he scored again on a drive and he was done for the day after adding a free throw minutes later.

Ferrer was so unaggressive, FEU found no need to come up with a double team. A virtual catch-and-shoot guy when he’s hot, this time he simply refused to fire away, at one time opting to pass off even when he’s open.

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For all their shooting woes, the Tigers managed to give the Tamaraws a big scare behind Daquioag, who showed his true worth this time with a team-high 21 points. Daquioag even gave UST a 59-53 lead before FEU rallied behind its top three stars.

UST later consoled itself by saying the Tigers still overachieved by reaching the Finals. But with both FEU and UST losing their respective stars at the end of the season, the Tigers won’t be in the title hunt in the near future.

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Jason Ballesteros finally found a chance to play hero and give Blackwater Elite its biggest win yet in the PBA last Saturday at Angeles University Foundation gym.

With 4.6 seconds left, the former San Sebastian center needed just one of two free throws to break an 84-tie he himself had set earlier to virtually doom the heavily favored crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra. But he blew both charity attempts to pave the way for extra time.

Blackwater also missed the game-winner in the second extension before the Gin Kings escaped with a 102-94 decision behind back-to-back triples by LA Tenorio and Scottie Thompson.

While Ginebra improved to 5-4, Blackwater fell to 1-7, barely ahead of cellar-dwelling Meralco (1-8).