Archers oust Tams for first finals appearance in five years

MANILA, Philippines – La Salle is back in the finals for the first time since 2008 after eliminating FEU in a come-from-behind 71-68 victory in the semifinals of the 76th UAAP men's basketball tourney at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Wednesday night.

The Archers employed a balanced attack with LA Revilla, Jeron Teng and Norbert Torres registering 15 points each to barge into the finals for the first time in five years.

Despite the major accomplishment, first year coach Juno Sauler downplayed their return to the Finals and wanted to focus instead on improving further.

"Until now our main focus is to improve daily, even in practice, day in and day out. I did not even tell them to win today," said Sauler.

"More important to us is how we play in the coming games. I want my players to improve and work on our mistakes in this game," he added.

La Salle caught a break when Mike Tolomia of FEU was assessed a technical foul on a rebound play against Teng with 1:56 left. Teng then split his technical free throws to give the Archers a 69-66 lead.

The next point came from Revilla, who also split his charities for a 70-66 margin with 13.1 ticks remaining.

Reigning MVP Terrence Romeo scored a quick bucket to cut FEU’s deficit o 68-70 and Jason Perkins went to the free throw line for two shots, missing the first and sinking the second.

Romeo had the chance to send the game to overtime but missed a desperation triple near the half court.

Carl Cruz led the Tamaraws with 16 points while Romeo and graduating player RR Garcia chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively.

La Salle awaits the winner of the other semis match-up between National University and University of Santo Tomas at the same venue on Saturday.