Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
After La Salle did a lot of scrambling before taking its expected place in the finals of the ongoing UAAP Season 79 men’s basketball tournament at the expense of Adamson early last week, coach Aldin Ayo said his Archers would need some time to recover their old form in the title showdown.
It looked like Ayo won’t have his wish of an extended sharpening session for his boys with Ateneo favored to clinch the other title slot with a third straight conquest of defending champion Far Eastern University this season in the second Final Four duel last Saturday.
But the Tamaraws did Ayo a big favor when they came from behind to nip the Eagles, 62-61, and force a deciding do-or-die game this Wednesday, which would have been the title series opener had Ateneo won.
With Ayo in the not-so-huge gallery, the Tams, starring their two southpaw aces Raymar Jose and Monbert Arong, rallied from 49-39 early in the last quarter to grab the lead for good at 60-55 with 11 seconds left. Back-to-back desperation triples by Thirdy Ravena that sandwiched two FEU free throws set the final count.
The start of the title series will likely be held this Saturday with succeeding games expected to be held next week. Thus, the Archers will have more than a week to fine tune their game before going into the finals.
A runway choice for the crown this year after a murderous run in the two-round eliminations where they finished with a 13-1 record, the Archers played miserably against the Falcons and needed the heroics of their go-to-guy Jeron Teng to salvage a 69-64 decision.
“We just really wanted this game badly,” Teng said. “We didn’t want to prolong it (the series) anymore.”
Ayo blamed poor execution of his boys for the scary win although Adamson certainly deserved credit for a strong finish in the season despite a rookie-filled lineup under new coach Franz Pumaren, who once steered La Salle to four straight titles.
Pumaren surfaced two days later as GlobalPort head coach in the PBA and proved his mettle as the Batang Pier toyed with the Mahindra Floodbuster, 97-75, last Friday.
Nash Racela is also set to take over as TNT tactician but relishes his final stint with the Tamaraws while going up against Ateneo mentor Tab Baldwin, who was the head coach with Racela among his assistants in the last Gilas Pilipinas national squad.
“The players never gave up and they found ways to survive,” said Racela, who also eliminated Ateneo in the Final Four last year while holding a twice-to-beat bonus the Eagles secured this time by winning their last six games in the second round, including an 83-71 win over La Salle.
“Ayaw ko pang magbakasyon (I didn’t want an early vacation),” said Jose, a 6-foot-4 power forward, who finished with 20 points and 23 rebounds, including 11 in the last quarter where he outrebounded the entire Ateneo team by three boards.
Arong contributed six of his second-best 13 points in the 12-0 FEU blast down the stretch that decided the match.