MANILA, Philippines – FEU doused a furious late-game rally by NU to escape with an 87-83 win and remain undefeated in Season 76 of the UAAP men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay Wednesday.
Terrence Romeo fired a team-high 24 points to power Tamaraws, who also got offensive support from surprise contributors Carl Cruz (13 points) and Gryann Mendoza (10 points).
"Good thing other players stepped up because other teams will focus on Romeo, Garcia and Tolomia and it will give more opportunities for others to score," said FEU coach Nash Racela, who has done a solid job in leading the Morayta-based squad to an immaculate 5-0 record, its best since 2010.
The Bulldogs started a torrid rally in the payoff period after staring at their biggest deficit entering the final canto at 48-68.
The Tamaraws got careless and stared at a 10-0 run in the middle of the fourth period when their foes finally cut the lead to single digit, 72-81.
NU kept on clawing back to within striking distance when Ray Parks sank two free throws to cut the FEU’s to 82-72 with 46.6 seconds remaining.
But Romeo had other things in mind and nailed a dagger lefty in the lane in the ensuing possession to give FEU an 84-78 breather with 26.5 ticks left.
Joeff Javillonar converted on a quick play off an inbound for NU, while RR Garcia split his charities in the next possession to give FEU an 85-80 cushion.
Robin Rono drained a cold-blooded triple to move NU to within a basket, 83-85, but Romeo was there again to save the day, sinking two clutch charities for the final count.
"We have to learn from this game and not be satisfied. What's important is we have to improve our finish," said FEU coach Nash Racela.
Jean Mbe led the NU with 27 markers while Parks chipped in 26 points as the Bulldogs dropped to 3-2 (win-loss).