Tams fuel sweep bid, rip Bulldogs

Far Eastern University drove past National University yesterday, 83-68, and geared up for a projected first-round sweep of the 68th UAAP season at the Araneta Coliseum.

It was the fifth win in as many games for the Tamaraws who have continued to show the same old fire under new coach Bert Flores.

With victories over UE, Adamson, Ateneo, Santo Tomas and NU, FEU is just two wins away from sweeping the first round.

But their next two games against La Salle and UP may yet prove to be the toughest for the Tamaraws this year.

La Salle can still count on its classic victory over FEU in last year’s best-of-three finals while UP is certainly no push-over as shown in its 3-1 record.

"We’re preparing for the big game on Sunday," said Flores of their game against the Green Archers on Sunday. The game against UP is set Aug. 6.

The Tamaraws didn’t give the Bulldogs any chance, racing to double-digit leads early on and posting their biggest lead at 29 points with 2.47 remaining.

This enabled Flores, a protégé of former FEU mentor Danny Gavieres, to rest his key players and give the others bigger exposure.

Arwind Santos, the reigning MVP, saw action for only 18 minutes, Mark Isip 17, Jeff Chan 19, Jonas Villanueva 17 and RJ Rizada the most at 23. They combined for 47 points and 23 rebounds.

"Opportunity na kasi bigyan ng playing time yung iba," said Flores.

The Bulldogs were so outclassed in the game, particularly in the second half where coach Manny Dandan didn’t find the need to call a single timeout.

In the second game, La Salle used a season-high first-quarter output of 33 points to crush Santo Tomas, 98-78, and assume solo fourth with a 3-2 record. It was the second straight win for the Green Archers.

La Salle jumped to an 8-0 lead, padded this to 33-14 at the end of the first quarter and to 76-43 late in the third quarter. The fourth quarter looked more like a scrimmage as the Tigers fell to 0-5.

The victory stretched La Salle’s winning streak over Santo Tomas to 15. The last time the Tigers beat the Archers was in Game One of the 1999 best-of-three finals. La Salle won the next two games to clinch the title.