Archers oust Tams, advance to Filoil semis

MANILA, Philippines – Far Eastern U coach Nash Racela went into its quarterfinal game against La Salle knowing that their unbeaten record in the elimination round was meaningless. He was right.

Drawing strength from the hot shooting of Thomas Torres, key defensive stops and clutch free throws by Jeron Teng, the Archers overcame a late fightback by the Tams to hold on to a 94-89 victory Wednesday and advance to the semifinals of the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan.

Torres exploded with 23 points, including a game-high seven booming triples, and La Salle held FEU to just two points in the final 1.17 minutes while scoring eight points in that stretch that Teng capped with two crucial free throws to seal the reigning UAAP champions the victory.

La Salle thus advanced to Thursday's semis duel with Southwestern U, which turned back Jose Rizal, 65-57, last Monday in a showdown between one of the best teams in the Big City and the best squad in Cebu.

"FEU showed they're tough, they got the game close especially in the end and you know how strong they are," said La Salle coach Juno Sauler.

When informed later that Racela, in an earlier interview, said that they have treated all their games as if they're facing La Salle, Sauler paused and answered: "Whenever we faced teams, we think it’s FEU."

And La Salle had Torres as one of the players to thank for as the former La Salle-Greenhills standout came torching the Tams in the third, going five-of-five from beyond the arc to give the Archers double-digit leads.

Sauler also rued his team’s failure to finish games.

"We've been having problems finishing games," said Sauler, whose team lost to Jose Rizal and Perpetual Help in the prelims. "We have to find a way to solve that."

Ironically, the Archers finished this one well.

After leading by double-digits in the third period, La Salle weathered repeated comebacks by FEU and after Torres drained another 3-pointer – his seventh and last in the game – the former had an 86-80 lead with over three minutes to go.

But the Tams went battling back and unleashed a 7-0 blitz that Mike Tolomia, who wound up with a team-high 22 points, highlighted with a huge triple, giving them an 87-86 edge and what looked like momentum.

It turned out the last show of strength for FEU as La Salle outscored the former, 8-2, to seal the deal.

It was FEU's first ever defeat of the tournament after blitzing the competition in six impressive wins.

Sadly, it was a loss that signified the end for the Tams.

The scores:

La Salle 94 – T. Torres 23, Van Opstal 16, Teng 13, Perkins 13, Vosotros 10, Rivero 6, N. Torres 4, Sargent 3, Montalbo 2, Salem 0

FEU 89 – Tolomia 22, Belo 18, Hargrove 15, Ru. Escoto 10, Pogoy 7, Inigo 4, Cruz 4, Jose 3, Tamsi 2, Ri. Escoto 2, David 2, Delfinado 0, Dennison 0, Ugsang 0

Quarterscores: 16-15; 49-43; 78-69; 94-89