Tamaraws trip Tigers to clinch spot in Final 4

One thing that impresses Far Eastern University (FEU) coach Glenn Capacio is that almost anyone on his team can step up at any given time.

And this time, it was center Aldrech Ramos and rookie guard Terrence Romeo who delivered the telling blows in FEU's 76-67 win over University of Santo Tomas (UST) as the Tamaraws clinched the first semi-finals berth in the 73rd UAAP men's basketball tournament. Focusing mostly on playing defense and slowly adjusting after an almost a year playing with the Smart Gilas Pilipinas developmental team, Ramos produced his best game of the season with 21 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Ramos, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, was a point shy of tying his career-high that he set last season, ironically, against UST. And Romeo did his part in filling the role of ace guard RR Garcia by draining all of his 13 points in the second half as FEU notched its ninth win in 10 games to earn a semis spot. It was UST's fifth straight loss, the longest since Pido Jarencio took over the coaching chores from Nel Parado in 2006 – the same year the Tigers last won the UAAP crown. They now join UE from sixth to seventh spots with identical 3-7 slates. The Tamaraws notched their 13th overall Final Four appearance since the current format was introduced in 1994. Although, the feat made Capacio grin with satisfaction he said that there's still a lot of job left to be done. "Our target is to gain the twice-to-beat advantage," said Capacio. "Of course, I'm happy that we were able to gain that Final Four spot but then we're still far from our goal of winning the championship." FEU won despite Garcia's poor offensive showing and big man Reil Cervantes serving a one-game suspension for hacking University of the East star Paul Lee in the Tams' 83-77 overtime victory last week. Garcia, the 5-foot-11 wonder from Zamboanga, tied a season-low 11 points but managed to haul down five rebounds and issue four assists. He found his shooting touch late in the game and even hit a tough shot to give FEU a 71-57 advantage with 2:16 left. Holding on to a slim 56-54 lead, after a Chris Camus putback brought UST within two, Ramos and Romeo led a telling 15-3 FEU breakaway to finally silence the stubborn Growling Tigers. Also contributing in the absence of Cervantes were backup big men Carl Bryan Cruz and former San Sebastian Stag Mark Anthony Bringas, who combined for 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jeric Fortuna led the España-based squad with 12 points, three rebounds and seven assists while Aljon Mariano and Camus added 11 markers each. – JVP, GMANews.TV