UNIVERSITY of the Philippines strengthened its case for a twice-to-beat advantage in the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball Final Four with an 81-64 win over Far Eastern University at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday.
Aldous Torculas boosted the Maroons’ top two bid with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and five rebounds in just 18 minutes of play.
See SCENARIOS: UP, La Salle and NU dispute two twice-to-beat spots
UP improved its win-loss record to 10-2 to take the solo lead in the team standings with two games left.
The Tamaraws suffered their ninth loss in 12 games and are out of Final Four contention for the second straight season.
"We're just taking this one practice and one game at a time since we know what's at stake. Last game, it clinched 'yung Final Four spot for us and now it's another goal (twice-to beat advantage)," said UP deputy coach Christian Luanzon.
"Si Coach Gold (Monteverde), nire-remind niya lang 'yung players na there's this thing we preach for them to 'keep pounding,' Even all throughout the game, he was reminding the players na hindi makukuha sa isang pound 'yung home run plays," he added.
FEU gave UP a proper battle in the first half and was only down by seven in the break as it sought to replicate its strong showing in Round 1 against UP.
But from there on, the shots began falling faster for the Maroons upon firing nearly 50 percent of its field goal attempts to complete a 17-point rout which axed the Tamaraws from semis contention.
On top of Freancis Lopez's near double-double of 12 points and nine boards, strong outings from UP's second stringers Torculas, Harold Alarcon (11 points), and Chicco Briones (nine points) slammed the door shut on also-ran FEU.
The scores:
UP (81) – Torculas 13, Lopez 12, Alarcon 11, Briones 9, Cagulangan 7, Diouf 6, Felicilda 4, Pablo 4, Abadiano 4, Gonzales 4, Torres 3, Cansino 2, Gagate 2, Alter 0, Belmonte 0.
FEU (64) – Gonzales 20, Bautista 17, Sleat 8, Torres 8, Faty 6, Tempra 3, Ona 2, Bagunu 0, Montemayor 0, Buenaventura 0, Felipe 0, Competente 0.
Quarterscores: 16-13, 34-27, 60-47, 81-64.
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