HOOPS
Rampaging Tamaraws
FEU demolishes UP, gains lead share
Games on Wednesday:
(Mall of Asia Arena)
2:30 p.m. — Adamson vs NU
6 p.m. — Ateneo vs La Salle
Far Eastern University (FEU) continued with its giant-slaying ways to climb up to a share of the lead.
A scorching third quarter by the Tamaraws extinguished any hopes of a comeback for University of the Philippines (UP), 90-79, in their third straight win in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 89 men’s basketball tournament on Sunday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
FEU opened the second half with a 16-2 run and turned a slim two-point lead entering the intermission into a 59-43 advantage with five minutes left.
The Tamaraws built a 20-point separation heading into the payoff period and cruised the rest of the way for a 3-1 win-loss record. FEU, after completing a sweep of last year’s finals protagonists, defending champion De La Salle University and UP, joined Ateneo De Manila University at the top spot.
Kirby Mongcopa led the Tamaraws’ wire-to-wire assault with 24 points on 8-of-16 field goal shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.
Jorick Bautista chipped in 16 points, reigning Most Valuable Player Janrey Pasaol added 15 while rookie Cabs Cabonilas and Mo Konateh had 11 and 10 points, respectively, for FEU, which forced the Fighting Maroons to commit 18 turnovers.
The Tamaraws’ energy was up from the get-go and turned it up a notch higher in the second half as they outscored the Fighting Maroons, 32-14, in the third canto.
Bautista put the game beyond reach with a trey for a 90-65 FEU advantage with only 1:49 on the clock as UP suffered a second straight defeat.
Veejay Pre scored 16 points against his former team while Francis Nnoruka and Rey Remogat had 14 and 12 markers, respectively, for the 2-2 Fighting Maroons.
Meanwhile, reigning champion De La Salle University snapped a two-game slide with a 112-87 rout of winless University of the East in the first game.
The win leveled the Green Archers’ record at 2-2 in a four-way tie for fifth place with National University, UP and University of Santo Tomas.
“We just discussed how unpredictable this season will be, especially with the games yesterday. This is just gonna make every game very, very interesting. We came from back-to-back losses; those are big losses for us, but I guess it’s just more on focusing on our own race, making sure we’re just gonna focus on ourselves,” La Salle head coach Topex Robinson said.