The Far Eastern University Tamaraws had to fend off rally after rally from the Emilio Aguinaldo College General to take their sixth win of the tournament, 68-61, Wednesday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
The Morayta-based side marches on their last Group B assignment with a 6-1 record, tied with San Sebastian College. On their part, the Generals went down to 2-5.
Brandrey Bienes finished with 10 points to lead 11 other players who scored for the Tamaraws, a testament of what head coach Olsen Racela wants from his team.
“We played more passive compared sa last game pero nakuha pa rin namin yung panalo,” the rookie UAAP coach noted.
Racela added, “Slowly (nakukuha na yung gusto naming mangyari for UAAP). Hindi pa lahat. One is competition, yun nakukuha namin yun. Gusto ko makita once we get to the playoffs, how they will react.”
It was the Generals who started on the right foot, with Sidney Onwubere pacing the Taft-based side, who is still missing center Hamadou Laminou on injury. The white-shirts take the slim 19-15 lead after the first quarter.
The Tams then buckled down on defense starting the second quarter and never relinquished the advantage until the final buzzer.
The lead reached its peak at ten points at the early part of the fourth period off an Achie Iñigo trey, 57-47, which EAC countered.
Onwubere fired off a trey to cut the deficit to six, 53-59, capping off a 6-2 burst, but it was a little too late for a comeback to happen.
Onwubere registered 11 points and three rebounds, while Jeric Diego added 10 markers to round up the only two players in double-digits for EAC.
All in all, the Generals was limited to 33 percent shooting with only 19 percent from behind-the-arc. The Tamaraws did a little better with 40 percent clip.
FEU and San Sebastian will dispute the top spot in the group, going into the quarterfinals, on Monday, June 12, Independence Day at 11:15 am.
The Generals will battle Mapua University (0-7) on the following Wednesday, June 14 at 1:30 pm.
The Scores:
FEU (68) – Bienes 10, Ramirez 9, Tolentino 9, Orizu 7, Escoto 7, Trinidad 7, Inigo 6, Tuffin 5, Ebona 3, Parker 2, Comboy 2, Nunag 1, Baquin 0, Stockton 0, Denila 0.
EAC (61) – Onwubere 11, Garcia 10, Diego 8, Tampoc 8, Bautista 5, Bugarin 5, Munsayac 4, Corilla 4, Pascua 3, J. Mendoza 3, I. Mendoza 0, Altiche 0, Guzman 0, Gonzales 0.
Quarterscores: 15-19, 31-27, 52-44, 68-61.
