Tams doomed; Eagles give UST, AdU free lift

JC Intal dished out an MVP performance last night, taking charge for Ateneo with a driving lay-up with a second to go to lift the Eagles to a heart-stopping 70-68 victory over a dejected Far Eastern U side and give University of Santo Tomas and Adamson a free ride to the Final Four in the 69th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Philsports Arena.

Intal, who trails Adamson’s Ken Bono in the MVP race this season, fired 22 points, firing the game-winner that gave the Eagles their 10th win in 11 games and made the Tams the first team to miss the Final Four after winning the crown the previous year.

"Coach (Norman Black) told me to take charge and I did not have second thoughts of taking that shot," said the 22-year-old Intal, who is hoping to end his UAAP career with a title before turning pro next year.

The Tams appeared headed for a victory and a triple tie with UST and Adamson for the third spot after surging ahead, 68-65, 59.6 seconds left in the contest. But Chris Tiu came through with a triple after an Ateneo timeout then Intal shattered the last deadlock with that layup that broke the hearts of the Tams and their supporters.

The last time the Morayta-based school failed to make the semis was four years ago.

"I just got to give it to the guys, they really wanted this win," said Black.

Earlier, Adamson leaned on the late heroics of Marvin Poloyapoy to turn back National U side, 93-88, and clinch its sixth win against the same number of losses.

Ateneo’s win thus handed the last two semis slots to UST and Adamson, which wound up with identical 6-6 cards. They will clash next week at the same venue for Final Four seeding.