Tigers tame Tams, force rubber

MANILA, Philippines - Santo Tomas lived for a sudden-death with a tenacious comeback built around the most decorated among the Growling Tigers.

With the season and the championship fast slipping away, Kevin Ferrer, a Tiger all his life, unloaded a murderous 24-point assault in the third quarter and UST foiled Far Eastern U’s bid for the UAAP Season 78 men’s crown with a 62-56 victory before a 21,933-strong crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

Ferrer, whom two-time MVP Kiefer Ravena tagged as his co-MVP during the awards rites earlier in the day, finished with a career-best-tying 29 as he single-handedly stemmed the tide and seized the momentum with a wondrous touch from quartercourt.

“Nasa isip ko lang: Ayokong umuwi nang luhaan (I didn’t want my career to end with a loss),” said Ferrer.

The 6-foot-4 Ferrer touched things off with two charities then knocked down six booming treys – making five of them in succession – as the Tigers overhauled a nine-point deficit and raced to a 47-37 tear with 3:46 left in the penultimate canto.

“Nakuha ko ang kumpyansa ko nung nag-freethrow ako. Naramdaman ko mainit ang kamay ko (I got my confidence when I made my freethrows at the start of the third. I felt I had it going),” said Ferrer.

After a meager five markers and 1-of-8 clip in the first half, Ferrer made eight of his 10 tries in the third spiked by an insane 6-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc, as the Tigers outscored the Tams, 26-11.

“Muscle memory lang. Basta tinitira ko lang, pina-practice ko naman yun sa training, ayun lumabas ngayon (It’s really muscle memory. I’ve been practicing those shots and it paid off ),” said Ferrer, who also hauled down 10 rebounds and issued two assists.

The Tigers and the Tams will go at it one last time on Wednesday. UST will seek to complete an amazing comeback from a 0-1 deficit to cop its first crown since 2006 while FEU will try to avoid a second straight finals foldup and salvage its first title in 20 years.

The Tigers held the offensive-savvy Tams to a meager 27 percent shooting and limited them to below 60 for the first time this season. Prior to the game, FEU shoots 41 percent and is good for 74 points.

“Game plan namin is to play talaga defense against FEU. Sabi ko sa mga bata enjoy lang natin itong game. Noong Game One kasi tight kami masyado, di kami nag-enjoy sa game (we really focused on defending FEU. At the same time, we were tight in Game One so I told them to enjoy Game Two),” said UST coach Bong dela Cruz.

The Tams got their second wind and detonated a 13-0 bomb to take a 54-50 cushion going to the last 4:52. But Ed Daquioag and Karim Abdul joined hands with Ferrer and Louie Vigil to deliver the coup de grace for UST.

“We lost by six. The game was close, we had a chance in the end game despite the third-quarter explosion of the co-MVP (Ferrer),” said FEU coach Nash Racela.

“We missed 15 freethrows, we shot 27 percent field goal, If we correct a few of those things, maybe we’ll have a better chance on Wednesday,” he added.

Mac Belo (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Roger Pogoy (12) paced FEU as Mike Tolomia finished with seven on a woeful 0-of-15 clip.