LA Tenorio teamed up with Rich Alvarez in a pivotal fourth quarter run as the Eagles tamed the University of the East Warriors, 84-78, to force a rubber match on Sunday for the right to meet the Archers in a best-of-three duel.
Back after missing five games due to a fractured finger bone, Tenorio erupted for nine of his 17 points while Alvarez scattered eight of his 17 in the same period that foiled UE’s bid for first finals trip in 11 years.
"It’s not true that we’ll survive even without LA," said Ateneo coach Joel Banal. "We need LA in this kind of situation and his performance today (yesterday) showed what kind of player he is."
It was a tightly-fought game as both teams were called a lot of technicals and unsportsmanlike fouls, including a hard one dealt by Sonny Tadeo on Paul Artadi in a fastbreak play.
Artadi and Ronald Tubid finished decently but James Yap, who torched the Tigers for 29 points in the Warriors’ 76-69 win , was held to just four markers on an atrocious two-of-five shooting clip.
Wesley Gonzales ignited a 17-5 blast as Ateneo closed the third quarter up at 61-52, before Artadi, Tubid and Jay-Ar Estrada led a counter-offensive that pushed UE to within a point, 69-70.
It was, however, the Warriors’ last stand as Tenorio and Alvarez combined in a run where Ateneo outscored UE, 14-9, that extended the Eagles’ streak to six.
Their bid for a historic sweep shattered by archrival Eagles , 63-76, last week, the Archers brought it all down on the hapless Tigers, 97-84, to barge into the finals for the ninth consecutive season in the first game.
Spearheaded by the scrappy Mark Cardona, La Salle brought Santo Tomas to its knees as early as the opening quarter after erecting a commanding 30-9 lead.
"We jumped the gun on them and we made them feel the pressure in the first quarter because we want to make them quit early," said La Salle mentor Franz Pumaren, who’s looking at an unprecedented five-peat.
It was Cardona, a sophomore out of Carson High, who buffled the Tigers the most, erupting for nine of his 28 points in the first period when La Salle held UST at bay.
So dominating was La Salle that it led by as many as 26 points, 65-39, midway in the third quarter, an advantage UST tried but failed to overhaul despite the efforts of Cyrus Baguio, Frederick Hubalde and Christian Luanzon.
Menwhile, the Admason Baby Falcons trounced the UE Pages, 84-78, in a knockout game that sent them into the Final 4 of the junior competition with the Ateneo Eaglets, the University of the Philippines Preps and the Santo Tomas Tigercubs, the reigning titlists.
Elimination round topnotcher Ateneo clashes with Adamson while twice-to-beat UP takes on UST on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.