Eagles try to get back at Tamaraws

By Jonas Terrado - Manila Bulletin - August 9, 2008

Last Thursday, defending champion La Salle and National University got back at their first round tormentors.

League-leading Ateneo hopes to do the same today against Far Eastern University as the Eagles seek to boost their Final Four bid in the UAAP basketball tournament at the PhilSports Arena.

The Blue Eagles were denied of a first-round sweep after losing to the Tamaraws, 72-66, last July 31. But they hope to erase that stigma when they clash with the Tamaraws at 4 p.m.

The Archers beat the University of the East Warriors, 70-62, while the Bulldogs ripped the University of the Philippines Maroons, 72-59.

Meanwhile, University of Santo Tomas hopes to start its second round campaign on a winning note when it tangles with Adamson University in the 2 p.m. opener.

In FEU’s win over Ateneo, coach Glenn Capacio leaned on big men Riel Cervantes, Aldrech Ramos and Benedict Fernandez who came through with clutch plays to frustrate the Eagles’ sweep bid.

It also negated the monster game of Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who finished with 33 points and 22 rebounds.
Coach Norman Black is expected to make key adjustments to exact sweet revenge.

"We just lost to them, it’s quite fresh in our minds so after the first round we started preparing for this game," Black said.

Aside from Al-Hussaini, who was running second in the statistical points race after the first round, Ateneo will also rely on Chris Tiu, Noy Baclao, and Eric Salamat.

FEU, for its part, hopes to bounce back from a stinging loss to erstwhile winless National University, 69-61.

Meantime, the Tigers relied on leading scorer Dylan Ababou and rookie Clark Bautista to score an 86-80 overtime win over the Falcons.

Despite getting a good review before the start of the tournament, the Tigers could only post a 3-4 record at the end of the first round. They are coming off a 64-57 defeat to Ateneo last Sunday.

Aside from Ababou, Jervy Cruz, last year’s MVP and Francis Allera have to play hard and connect to beat the Falcons again.

Adamson, meanwhile, has dropped its last three games to end the first round with a 2-5 card but coach Leo Austria is hoping that Marc Agustin, Mike Galinato, and Jerick Canada could recover from a scoring slump to reverse their floundering fortunes.