FEU ends 10-year cage title drought at the expense of UST

Jamil Buergo
Dec 3, 2015
3 min read

Far Eastern University managed to overcome a six point deficit with over 3 minutes left in the game as they beat University of Santo Tomas, 67-62, in Game 3 of the UAAP Season 78 Basketball Finals at the jam-packed Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The game was tightly contested early as both teams had the same output of 30 at the end of the first half.

FEU would then turn the notch higher in the third as Mac Belo unleashed 9 points as they were able to build the biggest lead of the game 51-41. UST was also hounded by turnovers as they committed 6 in that period.

However in the fourth, Ed Daquioag scored 10 points and sparked a huge 16-0 Growling Tiger run as they took the lead away from the Tamaraws, 57-51.

While it seemed UST had its foot set on the championship door, FEU then crawled back and made its own 10-3 run highlighted by a three-pointer from Roger Pogoy that enabled FEU to retake the lead 61-60. Mike Tolomia then scored on a layup that padded the lead for FEU. After the timeout, Ed Daquioag was able to fish for a foul against Belo and made 2 free throws to trim the deficit 62-63. A split from the line for Tolomia off a Kent Lao foul made it 64-62 for FEU.

A dribbling turnover by Karim Abdul turned costly for UST as they wasted a chance to tie the game and instead was forced to foul Belo to send him to the line. Belo split his charities giving UST a chance. But Daquioag missed his attempt and Russel Escoto grabbed the crucial rebound leaving UST no choice but to foul him. Escoto put on the final nail in the coffin as he made both free throws to seal the final score at 67-62.

Jubilation erupted for FEU as the claimed their 20th title and first in 10-years. They last won the title back in 2005 against DLSU behind Season and Finals MVP Arwind Santos, Jeff Chan, Mark Isip, and Jonas Villanueva.

UST on the other hand claimed second place for the third time in 4 years. UST lost the title to Ateneo in 2012 and La Salle in 2013.

Coach Nash Racela admitted at the end of the game that part of their game plan was to stop Ferrer. Having played for the Gilas Cadet squad that had coach Nash as an assistant tactician, he knew very well Kevin's tendency as a player. Thus they prepared their defense for Ferrer and forced him to go out of his comfort zone which resulted to a lethargic Game 3 performance for Ferrer.

Finals MVP Mac Belo, who had to endure cramps late in the game, led the Tamaraws with 23 points and 8 rebounds while Roger Pogoy had 14 points (7 in the fourth) and 6 rebounds. Mike Tolomia bounced back from a lethargic Game 2 performance scoring 13 points, grabbed 2 rebounds and dished out 3 assists.

Ed Daquioag finished his UAAP career wtih 21 points and 2 assists in 35 minutes of action while fellow graduating player Karim Abdul produced 12 points and 5 rebounds. However, Daquioag and Abdul committed 11 of the team's 16 turnovers. Kevin Ferrer, who erupted for 24 of UST's 26 points in the third quarter in Game 2, was limited to only 6 points on 7 field-goal attempts only.