Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
ANTIPOLO—Far Eastern University continued its remarkable late season revival after an 82-58 drubbing of University of the East gave the Tamaraws the second Final Four berth Sunday in UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball tournament at Ynares Center here.
The Tamaraws, who, at one point in the season, were at 2-4, won six of their last eight games to finish with an 8-6 record, which is good for a tie with University of Santo Tomas.
But FEU holds a superior quotient than UST as the Tamaraws will be playing in the Final Four for the seventh straight season.
Should UST, University of the Philippines, De La Salle and FEU all finish with 8-6 records, the Tamaraws and the Tigers will be the higher seeds.
Should a three-way tie happen, the Tamaraws will avoid a knockout game for the last Final Four berth because of their superior quotient.
“Who would have thought that we will make it to the Final Four,” said Racela.
“Not a lot of people believed in us except for those within the team and the FEU community. We’re not done yet. We achieved our goal and we move on to the next.”
The Tamaraws seized control early, but they needed to hold off the Warriors, who cut the deficit to 63-71 early in the fourth period. Ken Tuffin knocked down a triple and Wendell Comboy also nailed a trey to
restore order for FEU.
Comboy finished with 17 points and four rebounds, Royce Alforque chipped in 13 points and three assists and LJ Gonzales added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Warriors fell to 3-10 with a game against National U remaining in its schedule on Wednesday at MOA Arena.
The scores:
FEU 82 — Comboy 17, Alforque 13, Gonzales 12, Tuffin 9, Stockton 7, Tchuente 5, Ebona 4, Torres 3, Bayquin 2, Bienes 2, Cani 2, Dulatre 2, Nunag 2, Tempra 2, Celzo 0, Mantua 0.
UE 58 — Suerte 16, Diakhite 13, Cruz 12, Tolentino 9, Manalang 5, Apacible 3, Antiporda 0, Beltran 0, Conner 0, Lorenzana 0, Mendoza 0, Pagsanjan 0, Sawat 0.
Quarters: 15-14, 40-26, 57-42, 82-58.