POWER forward Raymar Jose took to heart the instructions of assistant coach Jojo Lastimosa when the defending champion Far Eastern University Tamaraws went hard under their boards, rattled the Ateneo Blue Eagles with their zone defense and prevailed, 62-61, Saturday evening.
He took care of the ball, scored, rebounded and watched out for the Blue Eagles’ efforts to break their zone defense.
In the end, Jose made his presence felt underneath, scoring a season high 20 points and a near-season record of 23 rebounds to keep the Tams’ hopes alive in their Final Four encounter with the Blue Eagles in the 79th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament.
“I told him to play smart. He needs to be smart because they were playing zone behind him,” said Lastimosa.
Jose, who played his best game of the season, joined hands for 16 points in the crucial fourth period with Monbert Arong, who tallied 13 points in the Tams’ successful bid to force a rubber match on Wednesday with the Blue Eagles.
Their efforts inside and outside the paint in the crucial moments of the final period allowed Tams to fight their way out of a 10-point deficit.
“Para sa akin, nasa puso na ayaw ko pang magbakasyon. At last year ko na, kailangan effort pa. Kahit anong mangyari, lalaban kami,” said Jose after the game.
The Tams responded strong with their zone, with Arong splitting his charity and driving past Chibueze Ikeh in the remaining 7:11, to lead a 10-5 rally.
They forced Ateneo to three turnovers, and tied the match 49-all off Jose’s putback.
The 5’11” Arong forced another deadlock at 55-all with his free throw in the last 1:53, and then broke it with a tear drop shot off Raffy Verano.
Arong, who was 5 of 10 on the free throw line, moved away on three freebies in the last 11.3 seconds, 62-58.
“I told the players not to break down. I think it was really bad in the third quarter. There were a lot of questionable calls then. Halos bumigay na kami,” said FEU coach Nash Racela.
The Tams will now have a rubber match on Wednesday with the Blue Eagles.
Meanwhile, the Adamson Baby Falcons, the defending champion National University Bullpups and the Far Eastern University Baby Tamaraws stayed on the winning track as they turned back their foes Saturday in the Junior Basketball Tournament at the Arena in San Juan.
Florencio Serrano led two other teammates with double-digit outputs and their efforts carried the Baby Falcons to a 78-53 swamping of La Salle Zobel.
Serrano shot 22 points while Jason Celis and Carlo Abadiano added 15 and 11 points for the Baby Falcons, who picked up their fifth straight win, and remained in the solo lead.
The Bullpups, behind John Lloyd Clemente and Winderlich Coyoca, blasted University of Santo Tomas, 73-64, to climb up in second spot with FEU.
Clemente fired 23 points and Coyoca shot 19 for the Bullpups, who have the same 4-1 record with FEU.
Daniel Celzo unloaded 18 points for the Baby Tams, who smothered University of the Philippines Integrated School, 84-68.
Jason Credo and Daniel Ildefonso banged in 19 and 13 points for the Ateneo Blue Eaglets in their 69-62 triumph over University of the East.
Both have a 2-3 card in third.
Meanwhile, National University moved on the cusp of achieving another golden double in the UAAP high school volleyball tournament after besting University of Santo Tomas in the girls’ and boys’ championship opener at the Adamson University gym.
The Bullpups overcame a tough first and third sets to turn back the Junior Tigresses, 29-27, 25-19, 25-22, and stretch their perfect run to 13 games.
NU boys, meanwhile, went through the wringer before edging UST, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 15-9.
With playmaker Joymie Cagande orchestrating the offense, former MVP Faith Nisperos, Princess Ann Robles and Thea Gagate delivered the goods to lift the Bullpups in winning the opener.