La Salle ousts FEU in wild finish
Welcome back, La Salle. See you next season, Far Eastern University.
Banking on a telling 19-6 wind-up, the Green Archers carved out a come-from-behind 69-66 stunner over the favored Tamaraws to complete the Final Four cast in the UAAP Season 75 men’s basketball action at the MOA Arena.
Proving he’s up to the task, Fil-Canadian forward Norbert Torres pumped in 11 of his game-best 21 points in the fourth period to help La Salle wipe out a 50-60 deficit and stun FEU while making its return to the semis after finishing sixth last season.
“Our battle cry in this game is that we just refused to lose,” noted La Salle rookie coach Gee Abanilla, who replaced Dindo Pumaren in the off-season and quickly turned the Green Archers into a dangerous unit. “FEU tried to pull away but the boys hung tough and we pulled it through.”
With the win, La Salle forged a gigantic clash with archrival and four-time defending champion Ateneo on Saturday, with the Blue Eagles enjoying a twice-to-beat incentive.
“It’s gonna be an exciting match-up. We’re clearly the underdogs. They got a twice-to-beat advantage against us. They’re really a strong team. But right now, I think I’m very happy with the way we’re performing and peaking at the right time,” Abanilla added.
Colliding in the other semis pairing are No.2 University of Santo Tomas and third-seed National University, with the Tigers armed with a twice-to-beat edge.
Highly-touted rookie Jeron Teng added 15 points while four other Archers contributed at least seven apiece, but it was their defense–notably in the last six minutes–that spelled the big difference.
After Anthony Hargrove gave FEU a 60-50 cushion with 6:45 left, La Salle suddenly went on a roll with Torres leading the way, scoring 17 straight unanswered points while putting the clamps on the Tamaraws to take a 60-67 lead with 38.6 left.
Back-to-back triples by Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia snapped FEU’s bleeding and sliced the lead to 66-67 with 30 ticks left.
A split by Teng restored La Salle’s lead to two, then FEU bungled its potential game-winning play, with Mike Tolomia whistled for a travelling infraction.
Tolomia then pre-emptively foul Vostoros, who pegged the final count off a charity. Romeo threw a prayer all the way from the backcourt that was never answered, sending the Green Archers into wild celebration and into the Final Four.
“In the first half, I think we were tight in, and we talked about it in our halftime huddle. We just told the boys we didn’t see the La Salle team that usually plays for us. I think in the second half second, they responded. It all boiled down to defense and that was really crucial for us,” Abanilla added.
While Abanilla and Co. are basking in delight, the Tamaraws saw their season come to a disappointing end.
The back-to-back finalists in the past two seasons, FEU suffered a complete late-season debacle, resulting to a surprise early exit and missing the semis for the first time since 2007.
“Hindi maganda ‘yung execution nu’ng end-game. Hindi talaga para sa’min kaya ‘forget four’ na lang kami,” lamented FEU coach Bert Flores. “Bad talaga ‘yung season. Pero kaya naman, lamang pa nga ng ten points di ba?”
Romeo and Garcia, a former MVP, were expected to shine but failed to deliver this time, no thanks to La Salle’s suffocating defense that limited them to just 25 points on a horrendous 8-of-26 shooting from the field.
