Subjected to its most vulnerable state, the raging Tamaraws from Morayta staved off a fourth quarter meltdown, played agressive but composed, and finally won banner number twenty to become the UAAP’s winningest basketball team.
Far Eastern University (FEU), runners up for three of the past six seasons, ended the Season 78 men’s basketball tournament as champions at last, winning game three of the finals, 67-62, against University of Santo Tomas (UST) today at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Mac Belo paced his team’s charge in the third quarter, when the Tamaraws played their best offensively, then stabilized his team in the fourth quarter to negate a furious 11-0 run by the Tigers.
Belo, named Finals MVP, sealed the deal for the Tamaraws with a simple block against the driving Ed Daquioag in the game’s final play. Already cramping since the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, the graduating forward crouched on UST’s baseline, unable to savor the moment he had been waiting for a good five years.
IN PHOTOS: FEU Tamaraws’ UAAP 78 championship game
“My mindset is to give my all for there is no tomorrow,” Belo, who finished the game with 23 points, said after the game.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair for the first two quarters, as both teams were content in exchanging baskets.
FEU though owned the third quarter, and their team defense and Belo’s steady offense were instrumental in erecting a 51-41 lead, with Belo scoring nine points and the Tigers limited to only nine field goal attempts in the quarter.
It was a different UST team though in the start of the fourth quarter, seizing the absence of Belo, who was down with cramps, and unleashing an 11-0 run for a 57-51 lead. Daquioag, who finished with 21 points, was instrumental in the run, scoring ten points in the fourth quarter.
Belo returned midway in the quarter and played through the pain, instantly scoring on a hard baseline drive.
Fellow forward Roger Pogoy followed suit, scoring seven straight points, including the go-ahead triple to regain the lead at 61-60.
The Tigers scoring became paltry, as they were limited to outside shots by Marvin Lee and one-on-one plays by Daquioag, no thanks to FEU’s interior defense.
Tolomia then extended the lead, 63-60, with a floating layup against the bigger but foul saddled Karim Abdul.
IN PHOTOS: FEU Tamaraws’ UAAP 78 championship game
The Tamaraws then ended the game sinking four of six free throws, and forcing the Tigers to fumble in the endgame with a lost ball by Abdul and Belo’s block on Daquioag.
“This is a breakthrough to FEU’s basketball program. It says a lot that our players [are] putting the team first above themselves,” said head coach Nash Racela, who won his first college title and FEU’s first championship since the Arwind Santos era in 2005.
As for the Tigers, head coach Bong dela Cruz expressed his delight for the consolation prize, saying that his team “overachieved.”
“I just told them that nobody expected us to reach the finals, even the final four,” the sophome coach said.
“This was a very good season, but this was also our best chance to win the championship,” he added.
It was a bittersweet ending for Kevin Ferrer, who played his last game of the season and was limited to only six points and seven field goal attempts.
