Needing yet another victory to keep in pace with Adamson University for the second twice to beat incentive, Far Eastern University mustered a victory over National University, 84-82, in the first double overtime contest of the 74th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament on Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Aldrech Ramos led the scoring for the Tamaraws with 19 points. Terrence Romeo followed with a season-best of 16 points from Terrence Romeo. Both managed to carom 7 boards apiece. Chris Excimiano contributed 14 points.

Fil-am recruit Bobby Ray Parks topped the leaderboard for both teams with 32 points. Emmanuel Mbe struck a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Dennis Villamor scored 10 points in another losing cause.

For a while it seemed bleak for the Tamaraws in the third quarter as starting forward Chris Excimiano was slapped with his fourth foul three minutes into the quarter and eventually fouled out of the game with a minute left in the period.

To complicate matters, the Bulldogs built a 20 point lead on a 16-2 run to start off the second half and nearly putting the game out of hand.

However, a barrage of three-pointers from Ramos, Terrence Romeo and Russel Escoto tied the game up at 60, which was then followed by an clean drive to the basket by RR Garcia for his first two points that finally managed to give FEU back the lead.

Following a brief exchange of baskets, Joeffrey Javillonar buried a clutch three-point shot, giving NU a two-point advantage under the one minute warning. Then, a crucial defensive stop and a basket by Garcia with 28 seconds remaining tied the game and sent it into overtime.

With neither team capitalizing in the first extra session, a second extra session was necessary. Back to back baskets by Romeo and Garcia proved to be the turning point of the second OT and would force Coach Eric Altamirano to sue for time at the 1:30 mark.

With Mbe cutting down the lead to just a single basket, Parks had a golden opportunity of tying the contest at the foul line with 21 ticks on the clock. However, his miss on the back end, compounded with Aldrech Ramos’ own split at the foul line set up a furious finish.

But the Bulldogs cannot capitalize as their only clear shot to the basket was a 28 foot heave from the right arc that only drew iron from a struggling Joseph Terso, who went 0-for-4 from the field in the contest with just 3 seconds left on the clock.

The Tamaraws steadily hold a 7-4 mark, just ahead by a game over University of Santo Tomas. National U, on the other hand, momentarily drops down to sixth place behind De La Salle University with a 4-7 record on hand.

BOX SCORES
FAR EASTERN (84): Ramos 19, Romeo 16, Exciminiano 14, Escoto 10, Garcia 10, Tolomia 9, Pogoy 2, Cruz 2, Bringas 2, Mendoza 0
NATIONAL (82): Parks 32, Mbe 11, Villamor 10, Alolino 8, Ignacio 7, Javillonar 6, Neypes 4, Celiz 4, Roño 0, Khobuntin 0, Terso 0, Singh 0
Quarters: 16-15, 31-35, 49-57, 70-70, 76-76 (OT), 84-82 (2OT)