MANILA – Far Eastern University Tamaraws finally barged into the win column of the UAAP Season 85 men’s seniors basketball. It accomplished a 75-60 beating of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Wednesday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Ilonggo John Bryan Sajonia delivered career-high 23 points, on a perfect 9-of-9 clip from the two-point area, as the Tamaraws notched its first win of the season after losing their previous five matches.
Ljay Gonzales got 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Xyrus Torres came alive with five triples to end with 17 points, while Ximone Sandagon and Cholo Anonuevo got huge rebounding nights with 11 and 15 boards, respectively, for FEU.
Holding to a 40-33 halftime lead, the Tamaraws pulled away from the Growling Tigers behind the exploits of the Pavia, Iloilo-native Sajonia to go up by as much as 15 points with six minutes in the game.
The Growling Tigers made its last push behind Miguel Pangilinan and Jamba Garing to pull their school to within 10 points but the Tamaraws answered with some critical baskets to secure the victory.
Nicael Cabañero was the lone bright spot with 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists for the 1-5 Growling Tigers, which played minus suspended Senegalese center Adama Faye.
Meanwhile, University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons had to dig deep to outlast the University of the East Red Warriors, 84-77, and tie National University Bulldogs on top with 5-1 slate. The Red Warriors dropped to 3-3.
The Fighting Maroons thought they were already safe with a 79-69 lead via a three-point play by Zavier Lucero with 42 seconds left but Red Warriors’ CJ Payawal unloaded back-to-back triples in five seconds to cut the deficit to 75-79 with 29.8 seconds left.
UP widened it to 80-75 on a free throw split by Ilonggo Gerry Abadiano. After a layup by UE’s Nikko Paranada to cut the deficit to 77-80, the Fighting Maroons sealed the win on two freebies by Maodo Malick Diouf.
Abadiano and Terrence Fortea tallied 13 points apiece to lead the way for the Fighting Maroons as Carl Tamayo finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, and four steals before leaving the game with 56.5 seconds left due to an ankle injury.
BOX SCORE:
FEU 75 – S ajonia 23, Torres 17, Gonzales 17, Sandagon 6, Anonuevo 5, Alforque 3, Tempra 2, Bagunu 2, Sleat 0, Celzo 0, Tchuente 0, Bautista 0, Guibao 0.
UST 60 — Cabanero 20, Lazarte 8, Manaytay 7, Mantua 7, Pangilinan 6, Calimag 5, Herrera 3, Garing 2, Manalang 2, Duremdes 0, Laure 0.
Quarterscores: 19-14, 40-33, 55-42, 75-60./PN
