Tams gore Archers, claim share of 2nd

By Jonas Terrado - Manila Bulletin - August 24, 2008

Who’s afraid of La Salle’s JV Casio? Certainly not Mark Barroca, the wily guard of Far Eastern University.

The sophomore outshone the La Salle ace yesterday to help lift the Tamaraws to a vengeful 83-75 win over the Archers in the 71st UAAP basketball tournament at the PhilSports Arena.

In what could be his finest game so far, Barroca exploded for 13 points in the final quarter, including six in a row at one point, to finish with a career-high 26 points as the Tamaraws improved their record to 8-3, the same win-loss slate of their victims.

"This is my second year as coach of FEU, hindi ko ine-expect na mag number two kami" said Capacio. "Nakakagulat so siyempre nandun na kami sa number two, susubukan namin makuha ang twice-to-beat."

Barroca, who hails from Zamboanga City, shot 11-of-14 from the floor while grabbing seven rebounds in 31 minutes of play to beat the more popular Casio in their backcourt duel.

He and back-up guard Jens Knuttel limited Casio to just 15 points, a far cry from his 29-point performance in the team’s victory over National University.

Knuttel, a second-year Fil-German standout out of FEU-FERN, came off the bench to tally 11 points, four rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in 32 minutes.

"Super nilaro nila ngayon," said Capacio of his backcourt crew. "We limited Casio to just 15 points last game naka-29 sila so defensively and offensively, maganda pinakita ng backcourt ko."

Benedict Fernandez hit 14 points before spending the rest of the game on the bench due to cramps while Reil Cervantes added 13 points and five rebounds in the victory.

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for La Salle coach Franz Pumaren, who is leaving next week for Tehran, Iran. Pumaren is also the coach of the RP Youth team that will see action in the Asian Youth Championships.

FEU built a commanding 52-41 lead in the third quarter only for the Archers to snatch it away with a one-point lead off a three-pointer by Casio, 59-58, with 6:36 left.

But Barroca hit six consecutive points before Cervantes and Knuttel scored each off two DLSU turnovers to pad their lead to 10 with 2:38 remaining.

"Grabe yung poise na pinakita ng mga bata, were down by one nung hinabol kami yung composure ng mga bata nandun so yung inaasam ko na last year na lumabas at least ngayon nakikita ko na," Capacio said. "Ako na siguro yung pinakamasayang coach sa Pilipinas kasi nagbubunga na yung sipag ng team so hopefully sana tuloy tuloy."

Rico Maierhofer led La Salle with 18 points and 13 rebounds with James Mangahas making 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field.

Allera, who suffered a knee injury at the start of the season, scored 11 points in the second half alone to finish with 14 while shooting 3-of-7 from the three-point area. Bautista scored all of his eight points in the third quarter.

"Medyo na pick-up na namin yung rhythm namin basta kuha lang namin yung timing medyo OK na kami,"said UST coach Pido Jarencio. "Alam niyo naman yung mga bata e nagsusumikap kaso we fell short every game dahil siguro may mga injury pero this time papalakas na yung mga bata, wala nang nararamdaman."

Aaron Galapon led the Bulldogs with 12 points and eight rebounds. Edwin Asoro also finished with 12 points and 10 boards but shot a miserable 4-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-10 from the foul line.

Allera hit a triple while Bautista connected on two consecutive treys that enabled UST to grab the lead for good, 43-39, with 3:52 left in the third.