Tams turn Tigers 'payback' to blowout

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U made sure University of Santo Tomas pay dearly for the Tigers’ “payback time” battlecry, scoring an emphatic 87-60 rout in the UAAP Season 75 men’s basketball tournament at the MOA Arena yesterday.

The Tams roared to an early 26-9 lead against the listless, fumbling Tigers and never let up the rest of the way to repeat over a UST side seeking to avenge its sorry 72-73 setback the first time they met.

With the emphatic triumph, the Tams improved to 6-2, catching up with their prey at second spot behind idle Ateneo (6-1). The Tigers saw their six-game run put to a horrendous end.

“Good start, we’re able to sustain our intensity, defend aggressively until the very end, limit our fouls, control the boards, share the ball. These are the factors that helped us pull through with the big win,” FEU coach Bert Flores said in Filipino.

He failed to mention his wards’ hot shooting (38-of-62, 61.3 percent) against the anemic Tigers (24 of 69, 34.8 percent).

In the first 20 minutes alone, the Tams fired at a sizzling clip of 69 percent (20 of 29) to pull away by 28, 47-19, against the Tigers who shot bricks (20 percent, 7-of-37, including 0-of-14 from three-point area).

“Our discussion at halftime was all about how we can show the same amount of intensity and aggressiveness in the third and fourth quarters, especially against UST which was good at coming back from big deficits,” Flores said, referring to UST’s fightback in earlier wins over Ateneo and NU.

“We were prepared when they employed the zone and we’re also able to stop their transition,” added Flores, whose crew enjoyed its biggest lead at 55-24, midway through the third.

Terrence Romeo paced FEU with 19 points while Roger Pogoy had a breakout game of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Aljon Mariano and Jeric Fortuna led UST with 15 and 12, respectively, as Karim Abdul was held down to 11.

Earlier, Bobby Ray Parks Jr. sizzled with a second straight 30-point game as National U eked out an 81-77 overtime victory over Adamson.

Parks followed up last week’s 35-point performance with 31 markers, leading an 8-0 start in extension that all but secured it for the Bulldogs (5-3), who salvaged the win despite squandering a nine-point margin in the final minute of regulation.

“I told them not to lose heart after we lost a big lead and were forced to overtime. This is part of our growing pains. For us to grow, we need these kinds of games,” said NU coach Eric Altamirano, who also drew huge game from Emmanuel Mbe (season-high 20 rebounds and 14 points).

Parks’ back-to-back 30-point games were the first since UE’s James Yap scored 36 and 30 points in 2002.

Eric Camson and Roider Cabrera shot 23 and 22 points, respectively, for Adamson (1-7), which found itself with a huge hole inside with the ejection of center Rodney Brondial, who was slapped with a disqualifying foul for punching NU’s Jeoff Javillonar in the stomach at 4:38 of the first canto. Brondial is likely to sit out AdU’s next game as penalty.

The scores:

First Game

NU 81 – Parks 31, Mbe 14, Rono 9, de Guzman 9, Rosario 6, Villamor 5, Alolino 4, Javillonar 3, Singh 0, Neypes 0, Labing-isa 0, Betayene 0.

AdU 77 – Camson 23, Cabrera 22, Cruz 12, Rios 9, Etrone 4, Monteclaro 3, Abrigo 3, Cabigas 1, Trollano 0, Petilos 0, Petilos 0, Olalia 0, Julkipli 0, Brondial 0, Agustin 0.

Quarterscores: 16-14, 27-23, 46-41, 71-71 (Reg.), 81-77 (OT)

Second Game

FEU 87 – Romeo 19, Pogoy 13, Hargrove 13, A. Bringas 10, M. Bringas 8, Tolomia 7, Garcia 5, Sentcheu 4, Mendoza 4, Belo 2, Cruz 2, Inigo 0, Jose 0, Guerrero 0.

UST 60 – Mariano 15, Fortuna 12, Abdul 11, Bautista 8, Vigil 4, Ferrer 4, Teng 2, Pe 2, Daquiaog 2, Lo 0, Haingan 0, Garrido 0, Afuang 0.

Quarterscores: 26-9, 47-19, 66-40, 87-60