Tolomia triple lifts FEU past UST
Saturday, 30 July 2011 109 Comments
WITH the entire University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers defense keying in on him in the last possession, RR Garcia made the smart basketball play and kicked the ball outside to a wide-open Cris Tolomia, who drained the game-winning triple that carried the Far Eastern University Tamaraws to 62-59 win in Season 74 of the UAAP last July 30 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Normally known for their offense, the free-shooting Tigers switched things up on last season’s runners-up, playing bruising physical defense on them, especially on last season’s MVP Garcia and RP National Team member Aldrech Ramos. As a result, both players struggled throughout the game. But when the chips were down, Garcia turned to his teammates, who rewarded his faith in them down the stretch. “Sa akin kasi, alam ko iniisip ng UST na sa akin, ako ang titira talaga,” explained Garcia after the game. “Kaya nung nag-drive ako, kinolapse ako, pinasa ko talaga kasi may tiwala naman ako sa mga teammates ko.”
After a tightly played first quarter resulted in a slim 16-15 FEU lead, former rookie of the year Jeric Teng took over the contest, scoring six in an 8-0 run to swing the lead over to his side, 23-16. In the third quarter, back-to-back triples by Teng and point guard Jeric Fortuna extended the lead of the Growling Tigers to a game-high 13, 38-25. FEU fought back with five unanswered from Ramos and Tolomia to turn the game into a single-digit affair, 44-38, going into the payoff period.
With two minutes left in the game, Garcia found Ramos on a pick and pop play that finally overturned UST’s huge lead, 55-54 with 1:54 left to play. Fortuna, who has come up big for the Tigers all season long, was clutch yet again, though, burying a triple to make it 57-55 18 seconds later. Off an FEU timeout, UST’s shutdown defense prevailed again, with Karim Abdul spiking an FEU attempt into the scorer’s table and the Tams missing on two triples. On the other side, Abdul found himself on the receiving end of a denial, with Ramos closing out daylight. Quick as lightning, Garcia scooped up the miss and ran in it for a layup to tie the game.
FEU weren’t done yet, as Chris Exciminiano swiped the inbounds pass and laid it in easy, giving FEU a two-point, 59-57 edge with 37 seconds left to play. Turning to their star player, UST gave the keys to its offense to Jeric Teng, who drove down the lane but was unable to draw a foul. Carl Bryan Cruz and Abdul tangled for the rebound, resulting in a jump ball that the Tigers won. That allowed Fortuna to pull up for another jumper, tying the game with 24 seconds remaining.
Off its last timeout, the Tamaraws wanted to drain the clock and win, if possible, on a last-second shot. Shadowed by Teng, Garcia, who had missed two practices during the week due to a fever, killed precious seconds at the top of the key before finally turning on the afterburners and darting down into the heart of the UST shaded area. Biting on the maneuver, UST’s defense collapsed, leading to the kick out to Tolomia for the triple. WIth 2.9 seconds left and no more timeouts, the Growling Tigers barely crossed halfcourt, forcing Fortuna to heave up a shot that he missed.
Despite the victory, a critical FEU head coach Bert Flores later said that the team was giving too much emphasis on the offensive end, neglecting their defense along the way. “Sabi ko, paulit-ulit, ball movement. Sa bandang huli, share the ball and defense…Masyadong naisip nila ang opensa,” Flores complained.
A former member of the RP Youth Under-18 National team, Tolomia finished with 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting to lead the Tams. He also had six rebounds, three assists in two steals in his 24 minutes of play. Ramos also had 10, plus nine rebounds and four blocks. Hounded all game by Teng, who had previously shut down NU’s Bobby Ray Parks, Garcia had just nine points on 2-of-11 shooting, but finished with four dimes, including the last pass to Tolomia. “Mas malaki siya sa akin. Grabe talaga defense niya. Binabanga niya talaga ako. Kaya ako, gini-give up ko lang ang bola, binibigay ko sa mga teammates ko,” said Garcia of Teng’s defense. Further hamstringing the Tamaraws was the loss of JR Cawaling in the third quarter due to a knee sprain. Cawaling sat out of the rest of the game, but isn’t expected to miss any time in the future.
Aside from playing tremendous defense, Teng also led the Growling Tigers in scoring with 23 points. Fortuna added 16, and Chris Camus padded the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and three blocks.
The win was FEU’s third straight after a loss to the Adamson Falcons as they grabbed hold of solo second with a 4-1 record, with match-ups against the UP Fighting Maroons on August 4 and the Ateneo Blue Eagles, on August 7. UST, on the other hand fell to .500 with a 2-2 split after four games. On tap for them are Ateneo as well, on August 4, UP on August 7, and DLSU on August 11.
The scores:
FEU 62- Tolomia 10, Ramos 10, Garcia 9, Exciminano 8, Cawaling 7, Cruz 6, Bringas 6, Romeo 4, Foronda 2, Sentcheu 0, Fabian 0, Escoto 0, Knuttel 0
UST 59 – Teng 23, Fortuna 16, Camus 8, Ferrer 6, Abdul 3, Lo 2, Afuang 1, Vigil 0, Tan 0, Pe 0
Quarter scoring: 16-15, 21-30, 38-44, 62-59
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