"Co-MVP" Ferrer waxes hot in third to hand UST finals equalizer over FEU

Dennis Acosta

By Alex Cerado

QUEZON CITY--The Growling Tigers lived up for another day.

Kevin Ferrer came up clutch and exploded for 24 points in the third quarter as University of Santo Tomas survived Far Eastern University to force a winner-take-all Game 3, 62-56, in Game 2 of the Finals of the UAAP men's basketball tournament at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum Saturday.

The third quarter saw Ferrer, who was unofficially declared "co-MVP" by season MVP Kiefer Ravena during the individual awards earlier in the day, waxing hot from beyond-the-arc, firing up five consecutive threes to turn the momentum in favor of the Tigers, 38-33.

Pogoy tried to stop the bleeding for the Tams with a baseline drive, 33-35.

Yet FEU's defense had no match against  the sizzling Ferrer after the UST skipper added another three and seven straight points to hand his team a 47-37 cushion.

Ferrer finished with 29 points on top of ten rebounds, while Ed Daquiag and Karim Abdul combined for 21 markers.

"Nung nag-usap kami aa dugout enjoy lang yung game. Nagsimula ang kumpyansa ko nung pagka-free throw at naramdaman ko ang kamay ko na mainit," Ferrer said. "Binigyan ako ng kumpyansa ng mga kateammates ko kaya nagpapasalamat ako."

The fourth canto was a nail-bitingbattle, with FEU getting back the lead after Raymar Jose's two-straight baskets down low, 54-50.

Louie Vigil took back the tempo for UST after scoring a crucial jumper off a Karim Abdul assist, 55-54, with 2:20 remaining in the game. 

Abdul, who committed his third foul just in the first quarter, bucketed five important charities down the stretch to seal the deal for the Tigers, 62-56. 

Playing without the foul-troubled Abdul in the second period, the Tigers erected a swift 5-0 blitz highlighted by a Daquioag trey to chop down the deficit to two, 18-20.

Pogoy later uncorked back-to-back three-pointers on the way to a six-point FEU advantage, 26-20.

In the first quarter, FEU grabbed hold of the lead early after Belo made two free throws, 12-7.

Ferrer and Daquioag were quick to respond with a 4-0 spurt to trail within four, 11-15.

But Game 1 hero Pogoy nailed a three-pointer in the 2:22 mark to pull away, 18-11.

"Nung first game nawala yung enjoyment namin, at the same nasunod ang game plan. Yung mental toughness namin nung Game 1 bumigay," coach Bong Dela Cruz said.

Box Scores:

UST 62-Ferrer 29, Abdul 11, Daquioag 10, Vigil 5, Bonleon 3, Lao 2, Lee 2, Faundo 0, Huang 0, Sheriff 0

FEU 56-Belo 16, Pogoy 12, Jose 9, Tolomia 7, Inigo 5, Orizu 3, Tamsi 2, Dennison 2, Ru. Escoto 0, Arong 0, Ri. Escoto 0, Trinidad 0

Quarterscores: 13-20, 21-30, 47-41, 62-56

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