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| RR Garcia missed this three, but he made just enough to help FEU live another day against Adamson. (image by Diana Moraleda/Inboundpass.com) |
FEU Tamaraws over the AdU Soaring Falcons, 59-49
This is the kind of game that justifies what many expected of the FEU Tamaraws in the offseason – a team built on arguably the most explosive guard combo in local amateur basketball.
And with Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia combining for 35 points, it’s really no wonder why FEU forced a rubber match for the last Season 74 Finals ticket.
The Tams are 4-2 when both guards score in double figures, and 2-0 when they combine for more than 30 points.
Make that 3-0 after this game.
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| Terrence Romeo leaves Austin Manyara and the Falcons in the dust with spectacular guard play. (image by Diana Moraleda/Inboundpass.com) |
And the scarier thing is this is probably not the last time we’ll see the terrific tandem pairing up for another high scoring output. With the exception of FEU’s game against the UP Fighting Maroons, Terrence Romeo has scored in twin digits in every game after the first round. He seems to have recovered well form the first round shooting fever he was nursing and is now poised to continue torching the hoops with reckless abandon.
Ditto for Garcia, whose FG shooting may not make people’s jaws drop, but the guy hits the shots that count. In this game, he shot just 1-of-12 from three, but he was a perfect 5-of-5 from 2-point range. He has a penchant for the rainbow shot, but when he puts his head down and takes it strong, there’s hardly anyone who can stop him.
Ironically, those are adjectives applicable to Adamson’s Alex Nuyles as well. He showed his beautiful game here, scoring 20 points to lead the Falcons, but he hardly enjoyed any support from his teammates. Nobody else on coach Leo Austria’s roster broke through the 6-point barrier, practically making it an Alex Nuyles-against-FEU affair.
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| The Adamson Falcons believe it's their time, but they'll have to get past the FEU Tamaraws to give truth to that idea. (image by Diana Moraleda/Inboundpass.com) |
Adamson lost out on 2 key stats, too – rebounds and assists. Controlling the boards was an integral part of Adamson’s upset of the Eagles last week, and they have to do that again if they want to barge into the UAAP Finals for the first time in the Final Four era. The Falcons have to do a better job sharing the ball, too. The team averaged 15.6 dimes in the elims and they managed just 5 against FEU. They can’t possibly win with that kind of playmaking.
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| Jan Colina will have to go down and burn more skin if his Falcons are to break into the UAAP Finals. (image by Diana Moraleda/Inboundpass.com) |
So Sunday’s the day one of these fine teams bites the dust. Here’s what my foolish foresight sees – I see Adamson bouncing back, with Eric Camson scoring well to complement Nuyles. I see Manyara limiting Aldrech Ramos anew. I also see Bert Flores’s backcourt bombers being hot again, but this time FEU will fall just short and take to the showers for good.
FEU 59 – Romeo 19, Garcia 16, Excminiano 8, Ramos 7, Bringas 6, Escoto 2, Tolomia 1, Cruz 0, Pogoy 0
AdU 49 – Nuyles 20, Camson 6, Alvarez 5, Cañada 5, Lozada 4, Brondial 4, Colina 3, Manyara 2, Cabrera 0, Etrone 0
QS: 11-9, 29-23, 52-32, 59-49
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