FAR EASTERN University-Diliman shrugged off the early absence of VJ Pre and trounced University of Santo Tomas 98-75 yesterday to keep alive its bid for a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four of the 85th UAAP juniors’ basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Pre sprained his ankle with just a minute gone in the game and never returned, but the Baby Tamaraws still outscored the Tiger Cubs 25-10 in the second period to erect a 53-32 halftime lead and never looked back.
“At least nag-step up iyong mga bigs na kapalitan ni VJ,” FEU coach Allan Albano said.
Kirby Mongcopa played a huge role in the Baby Tamaraws’ eighth win with 28 points, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists.
“Ang sabi ni coach, kapag kulang kami, kailangan lahat kami mag-step up. hindi lang mga bigs, pati mga guards. Kailangan mag-trabaho kami,” said Mongcopa.
FEU kept within striking distance of titleholder Nazareth School of National University and Adamson University in the three-way race on top.
UST, which dropped to 4-6, failed to capitalize on the result of the first game that would have given the Tiger Cubs solo fourth in the standings.
University of the East thwarted a La Salle-Zobel fightback from 23 points down to fashion out a stunning 82-77 win and snap a four-game slide.
The Junior Archers have now lost two in a row and fell to 4-6.
Vhon Roldan scattered 17 of his 27 points in the first half and had nine rebounds and two steals to lead the Junior Warriors to their second win in 10 games to move up to seventh place.
“Iyong goal namin is iyong mapataas iyong ranking namin ngayon,” said Roldan.
JP Pangilinan had 29 points, eight boards, five steals, and two assists while Charles Bucsit was the other UST player in double digits with 11 points.
Melencio put up massive numbers of 26 points and 20 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the tournament and had five blocks while Alas chipped in 22 points, seven boards, and four assists for La Salle-Zobel.
