XYRUS Torres made sure that his second serving would count as he drained the game-winning trey with 2.2 seconds left to end Far Eastern University's woes with a 59-57 nail-biter over National University in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament on Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The second-year gunner more than made up for the forgettable shooting nights from L-Jay Gonzales and RJ Abarrientos, delivering the goods for the Tamaraws to halt their three-game skid.
Emman Ojuola secured the big steal in the final 20 seconds that led to FEU gaining another possession, but Torres missed his first trey. Fortunately, Gonzales tracked the rebound and led to Torres' gutsy three.
NU still had a shot to win the game, but John Lloyd Clemente desperately tried to draw the foul on Torres in his three-point attempt to no avail as FEU escaped with the W.
Olsen Racela's Tamaraws notche their fourth win in 10 games.
"Pwede naman mag-give up easily ang mga players at mag-kanya kanya na, but they stuck to the system, they trusted the coaches, we trusted them, and L-Jay trusted Xyrus will hit that three-pointer," said coach Olsen Racela as Torres went 4-of-11 from deep to lead the Tamaraws with 16 points.
"It was all about trust for us and definition of our character."
FEU also drew a big game from Ojuola with his 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and two steals, none bigger than his defensive stop in the clutch.
Ximone Sandagon also added 10 points for the Tamaraws which netted only 10 points from the Gonzales-Abarrientos combo as they collectively shot 3-of-19 from the field.
It was a gutsy win for FEU which climbed back from a 14-point third quarter deficit and used an 18-5 run abridging the third and fourth periods to rally from a 49-37 hole to take the 55-54 lead with 1:54 to play.
Michael Malonzo's hook in the ensuing play rolled in the ensuing possession to give NU the 57-55 lead in the last 37.7 ticks, but it proved to be the team's lone field goal in the payoff period before Torres' heroics.
With the win, FEU tied itself with NU for fourth place with their identical 4-6 records.
"Ito yung crucial game na kailangan naming ipanalo. We're looking at the standings, ang gusto namin sa umangat sa standings, so we really needed this win cause NU ang hinahabol namin. I'm just so proud with the way we played today," said Racela.
Clemente paced the Bulldogs with 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists, but could not save the Jhocson side late.
Shaun Ildefonso added nine points and three assists, while Janjan Felicilda had five points and nine boards in NU's third straight defeat.
The Scores:
FEU 59 -- Torres 16, Ojuola 11, Sandagon 10, Gonzales 7, Tempra 4, Sleat 3, Abarrientos 3, Bienes 2, Alforque 2, Li 1, Celzo 0, Sajonia 0.
NU 57 -- Clemente 13, Ildefonso 9, Joson 8, Minerva 6, Malonzo 5, Felicilda 5, Torres 3, Figueroa 2, Gaye 2, Mahinay 2, Manansala 2, Yu 0, Enriquez 0.
Quarters: 14-15, 22-33, 40-49, 59-57.
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