Tams shackle Tigers top guns

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U outscored Univ. of Santo Tomas in a free-wheeling contest in the first half and cruised to an easy 90-63 victory yesterday, catching idle Ateneo at the helm in the UAAP seniors basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

Aldrech Ramos scattered 17 of his game-high 22 points in the opening half and the rest of the Tams shackled UST’s 1-2 scoring punch – Dylan Ababou and Khasim Mirza – to 20 points, giving FEU its fifth win against a loss for a share of the lead with the Eagles.

Ababou, who escaped suspension for his alleged involvement in a punching incident against La Salle last week, and Mirza averaged 20 and 17 points, respectively.

“We really concentrated on our defense against Ababou and Mirza,” said FEU coach Glen Capacio.

The 6-6 Ramos, a teammate of Ababou in the Smart Gilas Pilipinas training team, sizzled in the second quarter with a 10-point barrage as the Tams broke away from a 20-14 lead into a 47-25 bulge at the break.

In the other game, University of the East snatched victory from the clutches of defeat as it turned back Univ. of the Phils., 77-69, in overtime.

Val Acuna fired a triple at the buzzer to force overtime at 65-all then Rudy Lingganay took over by scoring five of his 16 points in the extra period which the Warriors dominated to notch their fourth win in six games.

Earlier, the UAAP technical committee, citing technicality, spared UST’s Ababou and Camus and La Salle’s Jovet Mendoza from one-game suspension.

Commissioner Joe Lipa had earlier recommended suspension on Ababou, Camus and Mendoza for their involvement in separate punch-throwing incidents during the UST-La Salle encounter last week.

Lipa cited a precedent 11 years ago when a Far Eastern U player was suspended for punching an opposing player although he was not ejected from the game.

But the league said the recent incident was a different case.

“The rules say if anyone is meted with unsportsmanlike foul, he is supposed to be thrown out and slapped a one game suspension. What happened was they (Ababou, Camus and Mendoza) were not thrown out of the game,” said league technical group chair Fr. Ermito de Sagon, OP, of UST.