Far Eastern University-Diliman remained the only unbeaten team in the UAAP Season 87 High School Boys’ 3×3 Tournament after sweeping Day 2 on Tuesday at Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Parañaque.
Ateneo de Manila University, meanwhile, also completed a perfect run on the day in the junior high school boys’ division to keep its record pristine.
The Baby Tamaraws stood tall as the lone undefeated team in the eight-team high school division, scoring a 21-15 win over the UE Junior Warriors with 1:33 left, then following it up with another 21-15 victory over the UPIS Junior Maroons with 3:16 remaining, improving to 3-0 in the tournament supported by Molten.
Liam Salangsang and Cabs Cabonillas powered FEU-D’s campaign, with Salangsang nailing the game-winning deuce against UPIS and Cabonillas converting the winner against UE.
“Ang pinaka-motivation namin ngayon ay yung pagbawi namin mula sa 5-on-5, kasi hindi namin nakuha yung goal namin na mag-champion doon. So dito kami babawi sa 3×3,” said Salangsang, referring to their third-place finish in the 5-on-5 tournament.
Cabonillas produced eight points and eight rebounds, and Salangsang got six points against UE. The latter also fired eight points on three deuces, while the former tallied seven points and seven rebounds against UPIS.
Marc Burgos and Mico Pascual completed the Baby Tamaraws’ core four.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
Ateneo, meanwhile, remained flawless at 3-0 in the juniors division after taking down UST and Adamson, 18-16 and 17-12, respectively.
Sky Jazul led the Blue Eagles in both contests, firing 10 points against the Baby Falcons and seven against the Tiger Cubs.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
Ateneo’s boys team, on the other hand, bounced back from their opening day loss to FEU-D by escaping the UST Tiger Cubs, 15-14, before handing the Adamson Baby Falcons their first loss, 19-17.
Ziv Espinas led the charge for Ateneo with eight points and seven rebounds against Adamson, and added five points and five boards versus UST.
“The main focus going into today was just to up our physicality and intensity. We’re all so used to playing 5-on-5 and 3×3 is such a different game. Today was a good day, and we hope to keep on improving,” said Chris Urbina, who scored eight and seven points, respectively.
Adamson’s Earl Medina nearly sent the game to overtime against Ateneo, but his deuce rimmed out. The Baby Falcons settled for a 1-1 split after earlier defeating De La Salle-Zobel, 22-17.
National University-Nazareth School and UST also split their assignments, rebounding in the afternoon after dropping their morning games.
UPIS stole the spotlight earlier in the day when Jaime Gomez de Liano knocked down a game-winning two-pointer in overtime to lift the Junior Maroons over the Bullpups, 18-17.
NUNS later regrouped with a 16-12 win over the winless UE Junior Warriors, while UST stunned DLSZ with a 16-14 overtime triumph.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
Charles Bucsit was the hero for the Tiger Cubs, finishing with six points and four rebounds, including all four of his made field goals during their comeback from a 9-14 deficit, capped by the game-winner in OT.
Adamson, NUNS, Ateneo, and UST are now locked in a four-way tie for second place with identical 2-1 records, while UPIS holds solo sixth at 1-2. DLSZ and UE are still winless at 0-3.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
In other junior high school boys’ action, FEU-D notched its first win of the tournament, handing UPIS its first loss, 21-18, with Anton Lopez sinking the go-ahead jumper with 1:46 left.
“Ang mindset lang namin is to win lang talaga. No choice na kasi last two games talo eh. Kaya ang mindset talaga namin is to win, win — no option na,” said Lopez, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
It was a strong bounce-back victory after 5-on-5 champions UE earlier handed FEU-D a 21-15 loss.
The Junior Warriors had a perfect day, following up their win over FEU-D with an 18-11 victory against NUNS, improving their record to 2-1. They are now in a tight three-way tie with UPIS and UST for second to fourth place.
UST regrouped in the afternoon session as Jhon Canapi exploded for a tournament-high 16 points on an efficient 10-of-14 shooting clip to lead his team to a commanding 21-10 win over DLSZ.
Before their losses, both DLSZ and UPIS opened Day 2 with impressive wins.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
Vince Magan hit the go-ahead two-pointer with 2.6 seconds left to seal a 20-18 win over Adamson for the Junior Archers, while Jhustin Hallare erupted for 15 points on seven two-pointers to carry UPIS past NUNS, 22-16.
FEU-D, DLSZ, and NUNS currently share 1-2 records, while Adamson remains winless at 0-3.
Action resumes on Labor Day, May 1.
