If the UAAP was an exam they have to pass, the Tams would all be getting an A+ grade.

Far Eastern U completed its first round assignment after warding of a resurgent Santo Tomas squad, 65-57, yesterday at The Arena in San Juan. The Tams banked on second chance points and offensive rebounds to catch up with the Tigers. Sophomore sensation RR Garcia gets first honor credits with 22 points, 2 steals, and 4 rebounds, while silent Alrech Ramos finished with 12 markers, 10 boards, 7 of which are from the offensive end, 2 assists, and a block. With the win, the Morayta team stays on top of the team standings with a perfect 7-0 record.

The Tamaraws had a slow start, allowing the Tigers to see through the loopholes in their defense and post a five-point lead over them at the end of the first 10 minutes. Back to back triples from Clark Bautista a little after the 7 minute mark of the second quarter furthermore increased the Tams’ deficit to 11. Things, however, started to turn around in favor of the Green shirts from that point onwards.

FEU made a 15-5 run after the Bautista triples. The scoring run extended to the first two minutes of the third canto. A trey from Chris Excimiano tied the game at 30 9:07 on the clock. The score changed directions four more times until both teams ended the third quarter with 45 apiece.

Garcia and JR Cawaling combined for 10 points to open up the final period and give the Tams a more comfortable edge, 55-45. Chris Camus and Melo Afuang tried to salvage the game for UST but Pipo Noundou added six more points to FEU’s lead. Garcia knocked in both his gift shots to close the game at 65-57.

Sweet Sweep

At this point, FEU just showed the rest of the UAAP that they are the team to beat this season. Having a clean record in the first round, however, doesn’t mean that things were all easy-breezy for the squad.

The Tamaraws had their moments at the clutch. They also played catch-up basketball in some of their games. They even had some really, really close calls (Remember La Salle?). I think, what made the difference was that the Tams played as a team.

Every game it was a different face – you have Reil Cervantes in the NU match, Paul Sanga for UE, Terrence Romeo for UP, Carl Cruz for DLSU, and Jens Knuttel in the Adamson tiff. Then you have the regulars, Garcia and Ramos. Mark Bringas and Chris Excimiano always deliver every time they’re inside the court. Cawaling is still so-so on the scoreboards but he contributes on defense.

FEU is the most cohesive team in the league this season. Its core has been playing in the UAAP for four years; suffice to say this squad knows how it feels like to be under pressure. Our line-up is also one of the deepest. Coach Glen Capacio has been using this to his advantage, changing his starting five every game. Offense? No problem there; the Tamaraws are still the top team in that area.

The points that need a little more sharpening, in my opinion, are our defense and turnovers. Defense is improving but we could do better. May be we can adjust our system with that of the opposing team. FEU also has the tendency to relax whenever they have a big advantage. This allows the other team to catch-up. You look at the scoreboard and you see the Tamaraws ahead by 16; then, the next time you look you’ll see the lead cut down to just two possessions and you’ll see the whole squad scrambling to get the lead up again.

Turnovers, that’s always been a problem. We had 16 against the Archers and then 20 when we faced the Falcons. Thankfully, we had a few when we played UST yesterday. Turnovers can kill a team, especially at the endgame. They give the opposing team chances to produce points for themselves. If those turnovers were converted into our own baskets, then we would have won most of our games by bigger margins (Think: double digits). Well, at the end of every game, a win by a single point is the same as a win by 10 points but if you know you can finish the game better, then why not.

We have the talent; we have the maturity, all we need to do is to execute and bring those goods into use. We still have the second round and that’s seven more games for every one. I’m sure (or is this just me being paranoid) the other seven teams have prepared game plans to bring us down.

A 7-0 first round finish is sweet but a championship title will be the sweetest.

Final four?

I’ll bet on it, FEU will be playing in the semis. If we win our next seven games, we could even skip F4 and utilize the step-ladder format. Right now, we have three teams – Ateneo, Adamson, and La Salle – with 4-2 records. That will change later as all three of them have games this afternoon. Assuming that the Eagles and the Archers win their match-ups, we’ll have two teams tied at 5-2; then, the Falcons will be at 4-3, so on and so forth, you know the deal.

UST and NU are steady at 3-4 for now. UE and UP will only be playing to have, in UE’s case add, something on their win list. May be they’ll pull up an upset or two over the top teams. Let’s be realistic, it’s hard to catch up with the other teams if you have lose all of your games in the first round. Not unless, by some form of miracle, you win all your games in the second round.

This season most of the teams are almost on the same level; may be after four games in the second round, the other three teams that will be part of the Final Four will be more obvious. As of the moment, I’m sticking with my earlier bets just tweaking it a bit – FEU takes spot number 1, and Ateneo at 2. La Salle, NU, Adamson, and, probably, UST will slug it out for the 3 and 4 spots.

 

August 8th, 2010 by reichmakayan Rachell Makayan is a 2008 graduate of the FEU-IN. A former sports writer of The Advocate. The product of an Ilocana mother and a Bicolano father (but trust me she doesn't know how to speak both provinces' dialect). The only FEU alumnus in her family, she constantly finds herself fighting over her mom, dad and sister every time the Tams plays the Warriors (Of course, she wins most of the time).