MANILA, Philippines - The Far Eastern University Tamaraws wiggled out of their initial complacency to crush the still winless University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 70-48, on Sunday in the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum.
 
The Tamaraws bucked a jittery start to notch their 11th win against only two losses, moving closer to securing the top spot at the end of the eliminations.
 
The Maroons appeared ready to wield the upset axe and snap out of their funk when they dropped a 6-0 bomb at the start. 
 
“Ang hirap maglaro sa non-bearing game at may lima kang player na running for awards. Ang kalaban namin ay sarili namin.  Sa simula, medyo nagkanya-kanya sila.  Hindi yun ang sistema namin.  In-explain ko sa kanila at naintindihan naman nila ako,” FEU coach Glen Capacio said.
 
The Tamaraws responded and played with a lot more urgency, staging one big run to take the fight out of the Fighting Maroons.
 
Trailing behind, 7-8, at the end of the first quarter, the Tamaraws opened the second canto with a 17-0 run and zoomed to a mighty 24-8 lead.
 
Leading MVP contender RR Garcia was the lone double digit scorer for FEU with 12 points but the whole team backed him up.
 
“Hindi lang naman kaming starters ang dapat gumawa, kailangan din mag-step up ang bench namin at ‘yun ang ginawa nila ngayon,” Garcia said.
 
The Tamaraws flaunted their depth in this game on the day their starters struggled and played “tight."
 
Garcia and the rest of the starters struggled in the field saved for Jens Knuttel who shot 3-of-3 to finish with 6 points.  Garcia bled for his points on 5-of-14 shooting while Reil Cervantes and Aldrech Ramos combined to shoot 7-of-18.  The frontcourt duo wound up with 9 and 6 points, respectively.
 
FEU’s bench contributed 37 points with Gryann Mendoza and Pipo Noundou leading the charge with 8 points apiece.
 
It was enough to fend off the Maroons, who drew their points from only five players.
 
Already without Woody Co (ACL) and Mark Lopez (foot injury), UP also played without Miggy Maniego and Carlo Gomez due to various illnesses while Fil-Am hotshot Mike Silungan played sparingly as he is still recuperating from a bout with flu.
 
Alvin Padilla picked up the slack offensively for the Maroons with 17 points while Magi Sison churned out a monster effort of 14 points on top of 15 rebounds and 4 blocks.
 
Those huge individual efforts, however, went down the drain as the Maroons collectively shot 20-of-60 from the field for an atrocious 33.3% clip.
 
The Maroons are now staring at the possibility of going 0-14 for the second time since 2007.  

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The Scores:
 
FEU 70 – Garcia 12, Cervantes 9, Mendoza 8, Noundou 8, Romeo 7, Bringas 6, Ramos 6, Knuttel 6, Cawaling 5, Guerrero 2, Exciminiano 1, Cruz 0, Sanga 0.
 
UP 48 – Padilla 17, Sison 14, Martin Reyes 9, Pascual 4, Juruena 4, Silungan 0, Saret 0, Manuel 0, Evangelista 0, Mikee Reyes 0, Hipolito 0, Gingerich 0.
 
Quarters: 7-8, 28-18, 47-36, 70-48.