[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Ateneo vs FEU: Who’s facing DLSU in finals? ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MANILA – Ateneo De Manila University Blue Eagles and Far Eastern University Tamaraws will be slugging it out for the other finals seat in the UAAP Season 79 men’s basketball today at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Game time is 4 p.m. The winner will face top-seed De La Salle University Green Archers in the best-of-three finals beginning Saturday, Dec. 3.
The semifinals series was stretched to a do-or-die game after the defending champions Tamaraws escaped with a come-from-behind 62-61 win over the Blue Eagles on Saturday.
The Blue Eagles seemed headed for a finals seat after building a 49-39 lead following seven straight points by Aaron Black, but the Tamaraws leaned on Raymar Jose, Prince Orizu and Monbert Arong to tie the score at 55-all.
A close range jumper and free throws by Arong gave the Tamaraws a 60-55 lead. After a triple by Blue Eagles’ Thirdy Ravena to cut the deficit to 60-58, Ron Dennison secured the Tamaraws’ win with two free throws.
“Pinakamasaya ako that the players never gave up,” said Tamaraws head coach Nash Racela, who is set to leave FEU at the end of the season to focus on TNT Katropa in the PBA. “It’s a character thing, and it’s nice that our players are learning.”
“I think the biggest challenge for us (since we lost a lot of key players last season) is each and every person in the team is really contributing to the cause. [We hope to] see that again on Wednesday,” Racela said.
For Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin, “I think we didn’t play with the sort of composure and experience that we think we have developed over the course of the season.”
“We have to make sure that won’t happen again (on Wednesday),” he stressed.
Baldwin added: “We didn’t shoot the ball well. Every zone in the world is tough when you don’t shoot the ball well. We ended up taking 36 threes. That number went in their favor. In another game, we might shoot a higher percentage.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
