TIGERS, MAROONS EYE FINAL FOUR SLOTS
University of the Philippines an du niversity of Santo Tomas shoot for Final Four berths on Wednesday, while Adamson and La Salle try to stay alive in UAAP Seaso n8 2 a ts mart Araneta Coliseum.
Fresh from crucial wins over the weekend, the fighting Maroons and Growling Tigers look to avoid complications and secure their place in the post season as they battle the National U Bulldogs and La Salle Green Archers ,respectively.
Wit ha7-4 record, U Pl ooks to carry t hem omentum of its 81-77 win ove r Ad amson last Sunday and close in on the second semifinal bonus.
A UST win over La Salle in the 4 p .m. clash will seal a Final Four bert hf or both the Maroons an dti gers, who cruised to an 88-76 thumping of the Bulldogs las ts aturday.
But av ictor yby t heg reen Archers (5-6) will only guarantee UP a playoff spot for af inal Four spot, while UST will have to try again.
“We’r en ott hinking about the standings of othe rt eams,” said UST coach Aldin Ayo. “Our focus is on our nex tt wo games .T he elimination round games are almost finished so we expec tt eams to be better and commit fewer mistakes.”
Far eastern U tries to strengthen its bid for a final Four spot as it goes up against an Adamson team teetering at the brink of elimination.
The Tamaraws played with urgency in an emphati c8 1-60 victory ove rt he Archers last Saturday and coach Olsen Racela hopes his team does the same agains tt he Falcons, who are in t hes ixt hsp ot wit ha4-7 record.
“Actually all of our games are do-or-die games i f we wan tto make t hef inal Four,” said FEU coach Olsen Racela, whose team occupies the No. 4 positio nw it ha6-6 record.
“We play it possession by possession, n ot r eally worrying about how well or how bad we did in the previous plays, but focus on the next play.”
The Falcons nee dto sweep the ir r emaining three games and hope tha tot he rr esult sgo their way.
And f orr acela ,t he desperation tha tt he Falcons feel makes them dangerous.
“There’s really n o ti me to celebrate or feel sorry for a loss because you have tot hink abou tt he next game, ” sa id Racela. “We just have to prepar ef or Adamson, which i sa well-coache dt eam .I f we f ollow the game plan ,It hink we will be okay.”