By Ivan Saldajeno
The FEU Tamaraws leaned on a solid fourth quarter to defeat the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 90-73, in the nightcap of the UAAP games at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The FEU Tamaraws leaned on a solid fourth quarter to defeat the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 90-73, in the nightcap of the UAAP games at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The Tamaraws outscored the Falcons, 28-13, in the payoff period to pull away for their tenth victory against two losses and secured the first Final Four seat.
The Falcons, however, put up a great fight, even going for the upset early on as they built a 15-3 lead to start the game behind Jansen Rios and Ryan Monteclaro.
The Tamaraws, however, opened an 18-4 run spanning the first two frames for their first taste of the lead at 21-19.
Both teams went toe-to-toe the rest of the period until six straight Adamson points put the squad up, 44-37, with 4.3 seconds left in the half.
Mike Tolomia, however, fired a buzzer-beating three-pointer from three-quarters of the court to chop the lead to four at halftime.
That long three helped the Tamaraws fight back in the second half as they took the lead, 62-60, after the third quarter.
The Falcons still kept the game close early into the fourth, but an 11-4 Tamaraws run clinched the win for the latter.
Achie Iñigo and Mac Belo combined for 35 points off the bench for FEU. The Tamaraws' reserves outscored those of the Falcons overall, 44-17.
Don Trollano had a game-high 20 points for the Falcons, who dropped to 0-12.
Box Scores:
FEU 90-Iñigo 18, Tolomia 17, Belo 17, Pogoy 12, Cruz 9, Hargrove 7, Jose 7, Ri. Escoto 2, Lee Yu 1, Tamsi 0, Denila 0, Delfinado 0
Adamson 73-Trollano 20, Rios 16, Monteclaro 12, Garcia 10, Barrera 6, Polican 5, Aquino 2, Pedrosa 2, Iñigo 0, Villanueva 0, Ochea 0, Baytan 0, Nalos 0
Quarterscores: 18-19, 40-44, 62-60, 90-73