MANILA, Philippines—FEU Diliman once again banked on the fourth quarter expertise of RJ Abarrientos as it stunned Canada Durham, 87-84, in the Fantastic Eight of the 2019 NBTC National Finals Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Abarrientos, who had 12 points in the first three quarters of the game, exploded in the fourth quarter and dropped 20 to push the Baby Tamaraws to the Division 1 semifinals against La Salle-Green Hills.
The Baby Tamaraws trailed 56-67 at the end of the third but charged to a 19-7 run that Abarrientos capped off with a three-pointer for the 75-74 lead with 3:08 left.
“That’s RJ for you, he will always deliver,” said FEU head coach Allan Albano. “In every tournament we played at, we’ve been consistently having slow starts, but it’s a good thing we’re able to wake up in the end.”
The Canadians not only got flustered against Abbarientos’ onslaught, their 17 points in the fourth quarter were three less than what the star Baby Tamaraw scored on his own.
Abarrientos finished with a near triple-double with 32 points eight rebounds, and seven assists while Kyle Bautista added 19 points and seven boards.
In the three games he’s played so far, Abbarientos tallied a total of 63 points and 41 of those all came in the fourth quarter.
Brendon Ocampo put up 18 points for the Canadians.
Joshua David led the Greenies in their 99-69 conquest of Vancouver’s Top Flight Hoops in the first game of the Division 1 Fantastic Eight earlier in the day.