After a sluggish start and a shaky finish, the Tamaraws were lucky enough to escape with a 64-57 victory over the Falcons yesterday for a 2-0 record and the solo lead in the 67th UAAP season at the cold, near-empty Araneta Coliseum.
"We were tight at the start. My players knew that Adamson was a strong team and it got to their minds. I can say that we’re lucky to win this one," said Banal, who’s trying to give FEU its second straight UAAP championship.
The Falcons indeed gave the Tamaraws some rough sailing, controlling the early tempo and threatening to pull off a victory later on. They were down by just three points in the final three minutes and by four in the dying seconds.
Adamson coach Luigi Trillo spent so much time questioning calls made by the referees and even approached UAAP commissioner Ato Badolato for some words shortly after the final buzzer. He then proceeded to the press room.
"Okay, we had 22 turnovers. But how can we have a chance if the referees give FEU 28 free throws and us just 11? They only had 16 fouls during the game and us 27. I’m just disappointed with the referees today. They have to give us a chance," said Trillo.
The game was played before a small crowd of 3,426, just a drop in the bucket compared to the close to 15,000 which came to see the Ateneo-La Salle game last Sunday. So much empty space left the venue so much colder that it should have been.
Earlier, La Salle forced National University into a mind-boggling 35 turnovers then went on to score a 60-40 victory four days after the Green Archers dropped their season opener against their arch rivals–the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
"We really concentrated on defense. That was our main objective–to hold them down," said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren after the game where the Bulldogs were held to just three points in the final period.
Since the UAAP record books were not unavailable, it wasn’t clear if NU’s output for the game would go down as the league’s all-time low. But it will definitely be there among the other lows.
The game was settled right in the first half when La Salle raced to a 42-23 lead.
NU, which dropped its opening assignment against Adamson, had 19 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play or almost one per minute.
The Bulldogs scored their first point of the final period in the 4:54 mark when Dave Catamora split his charities. They averted what could have been a bigger embarrassment when the other Catamora, Chris, scored off a steal, 4.4 ticks left.
While they struggled with their game, the Bulldogs also didn’t get any help from the referees. At one point in the third quarter, La Salle’s TY Tang was awarded three points when he was clearly stepping on the line as he took the shot.
Coach Rico Perez of NU was also slapped a technical for merely arguing a call by the referees as the Green Archers were pulling away late in the first half. La Salle’s biggest lead was 60-37.