Filoil: UAAP teams bounce back

MANILA, Philippines – The UAAP teams made a statement on Monday, April 23’s Filoil Flying V Preseason Hanes Cup games after defeating their respective foes in the elimination round.

 

All 3 UAAP teams all came from losses but managed to bounce back in today’s matches.

 

 

Breaks of the game down the stretch in favor of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers took a toll on the Perpetual Altas when free throw shooting woes haunted the Las Pinas quintet in the fourth.

 

With a relatively neck-to-neck battle the entire stretch, Coach Pido Jarencio went to import Karim Abdul and incoming sophomore Kevin Ferrer for the much-needed points down the wire. The duo combined for 13 of the 15 points of the Tigers in the fourth.

 

The 2 teams battled through 3 deadlocks and 8 lead changes. Aljon Mariano sizzled for the Tigers in the third canto when he tallied all of his 14 points in that period.

 

UST now tote a 1-1 card while Perpetual slipped to 0-2, with both losses decided by an average of 3 points.

 

Abdul and Mariano led all scorers for the Espana five with 14 markers each. Jett Vidal tough he shot 6-of-16 from the field today still led the Altas with 16 markers.

 

 

The Far Eastern University Tamaraws quickly bounced back from an 81-66 sorry loss to National University with their own blowout game against the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates to improve their record to 1-1 in the preseason tournament.

 

The Pirates on the other hand absorbed their second straight defeat. It was a well-controlled game by the Tamaraws at the start of the second half until the final buzzer.

 

Things turned ugly in the last 3:14 of the game when a scuffle occurred between the 2 teams.

 

Terrence Romeo and Clarence Foronda of FEU were both ejected from the playing court after initiating the said brawl against LPU players who did not react violently about the said situation.  

 

Former LPU Pirate Andrei Mendoza, who suited up for Letran last year, entered the court as a spectator and threw a punch at FEU’s Gryann Mendoza’s face, sending the latter to the floor.

 

After the officials’ huddle, it was reported that Andrei Mendoza would be banned from the playing venue hereafter.

 

FEU’s widest margin was at 24, 70-46 before the altercation happened late in the fourth.  RR Garcia and Arvie Bringas had 11 apiece for the Tamaraws with Cris Tolomia adding 10.

 

It was a sorry loss for the Pirates with no LPU player finishing in double figures. Rich Guevarra and Chris Cayabyab only had 8 markers each for the Intramuros quintet.

 

UE had the time of their lives in the first half of action when they had the momentum going on their side that gave them a 47-25 lead with under 2 minutes before the intermission.

 

The Warriors, who enjoyed a sixteen point 48-32 spread at the half watched their lead diminish through thin air when the Cardinals, behind new members Gab Banal and Andoy Estrella teamed up in the first 5 minutes of the third for an 11-0 blast that brought that Mapua back in the game, 43-48.

 

Mapua eventually took over the driver’s seat in lieu of UE’s poor shooting in the fourth when Mark Brana sank a short stab that gave the Cardinals another taste of the lead at 64-63.

 

UE could have stole the game in regulation had they made a decent shot in the last 13 seconds of the game.

 

Unsung heroes Pedrito Gallanza and Roy Villarias bailed the Warriors out of the woods in the extra period after combining fo 8 of the 10 points of UE in the extra 5 minutes.

 

Sumang, who has been a steady scorer for the Warriors paced UE with 21 points alongside four rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks while JM Noble and big man Chris Javier added 16 and 15 points.

 

Former DLSU Archer Gab Banal had 17 points across his name with 15 crashed boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block while rookie out of Malayan High School Andrew Estrella had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

 

UE improved to 1-1 while Mapua settled for a 0-1 start.

The scores:

 

 

UST (70) – Abdul 14, Mariano 14, Fortuna 13, Ferrer 11, Teng 9, Pe 4, Afuang 2, Garrido 2, Lao 1, Bautista 0, Lo 0, Tan 0, Mamaril 0, Hainga 0.

 

UPHSD (66) – Vidal 16, Thompson 12, Elopre 9, Paulino 9, Dabayemi 7, Arboleda 3, Canuza 1, Baloria 0.

 

Quarterscores: 13-13; 27-28; 55-51; 70-66

 

 

FEU (72) – Garcia 11, Bringas A. 11, Tolomia 10, Belo 8, Hargrove 7, Pogoy 6, Romeo 5, Bringas M. 4, Escoto 4, Foronda 3, Jumao-as 2, Mendoza 1, Inigo 0.

 

LPU (50) – Guevarra 8, Ko 8, Cayabyab 6, Mallari 6, Azores 5, Laude 5, Francisco 4, Pascual 4, Zamora 4, Ambohot 0, Garcia 0, Mendoza 0, Edding 0.

 

Quarterscores: 23-14; 32-29; 53-37; 72-50

 

 

UE (86) – Sumang 21, Noble 16, Javier 15, Santos 6, De Leon 6, Galanza 5, Villarias 5, Alberto 5, Duran 3, Hernandez 2, Sumido 2, Valdez 0, Casajeros 0, Belleza 0, Flores 0, Razon 0.

 

Mapua (82) – G. Banal 17, Estrella 16, Nimes 13, Brana 12, Ighalo 6, Saitanan 5, Eriobu 5, Chien 5, J. Banal 3, Abad 0, Stevens 0.