Tams rally to halt Eagles

Reigning champs force rubber

MANILA, Philippines - With its reign under heavy siege, Far Eastern U put up a lion-hearted effort and quelled Ateneo, 62-61, to force the second-seeded Eagles to a rubbermatch for a finals berth in UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball tourney yesterday at the MOA Arena.

Skipper Raymar Jose attacked the boards with ferocity, grabbing rebound after rebound to win over ball possession, then Monbert Arong took care of business on the scoring end as the Tams completed their fightback from a 10-point deficit and secured the important Final Four win.

The Tams neutralized the twice-to-beat advantage of the Eagles in this semis showdown and the two will go at it again on Wednesday to dispute the right to face waiting top seed La Salle in the best-of-three championship series.

Jose dished out a monstrous game of 20 points and 23 rebounds, making the most damage in the fourth quarter where he helped the Tams seize a 60-55 cushion with 11.3 seconds left. The graduating big man hauled down 11 caroms in the payoff period alone, out-rebounding the entire AdMU squad by three, and dropped seven markers in the period.

“Nasa puso ko na ayaw ko pa magbakasyon (In my heart I didn’t want to end my collegiate career),” said Jose. “Last year ko na, kaya dapat double-triple effort sa loob, gusto kong bumalik sa finals (It’s my last year and I vowed to double, triple my effort to help us get back to the finals).”

Arong poured nine of his 13 markers in the final canto, capping his exploits with a split that gave them a five-point upperhand.

“The players never gave up and I was happy because they found ways to survive,” FEU coach Nash Racela said.

“The biggest challenge for us was for each and every person in the team to really contribute and today, everyone contributed from the first to the 16th player,” he added.

Racela himself is determined to keep FEU’s title defense going before moving to TNT Katropa.

“It’s also motivation for me. It’s really hard to leave FEU and I never wanted this game to be my last,” he said.

Aaron Black (11) and Thirdy Ravena (10) led the scoring parade for AdMU, which absorbed its first loss in seven games dating back to the end of elims.