Tams surge past Warriors for solo lead

Far Eastern U shifted to high gear in the fourth quarter as it rallied past University of the East, 92-81, to grab the solo lead in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament at the MOA Arena yesterday.

With Mac Belo taking charge, the Tamaraws unleashed a decisive 18-0 blast that completed their fightback from 15 points down and set the stage for their third straight victory and 4-1 card overall. The Warriors fell to their second straight loss for a 2-3 slate.

Belo, held to five points in FEU’s 75-58 rout of University of the Philippines the last time out, bounced back strong with 24 markers, eight rebounds and five assists. The FEU star banged in 12 markers in the payoff period, where the Tams outscored the Warriors, 33-10, on a 59 percent clip and four-of-nine accuracy from three-point area.

“Hard earned win,” said FEU coach Nash Racela, whose wards are in the middle of a threegame swing against teams that all love to press.

“Tough game, we just got the lead middle of the fourth. It’s a tough UE team, we actually expected that. We had 24 turnovers today but in the second half, we only had seven.”

Defending champion National University routed Adamson, 75-54, to pick up its second straight win after a 0-3 start.

The Bulldogs cranked it up in the second half, holding off the Falcons to just 12 points in the third and 14 in the fourth to run away with the follow-up triumph to their breakthrough 55-54 victory over University of Santo Tomas last Saturday.

“It looked easy but we had a hard time in the first half. We didn’t have the energy and had a slow start. We allowed Adamson to score 19 in the first quarter and they got their confidence. It’s a good thing we stepped up in the second half,” said NU mentor Eric Altamirano.

Alfred Aroga banged in 16 points, grabbed eight caroms and issued four assists while Gelo Alolino added 10. NU got 35 from its bench.