Games on Sunday (The Arena)
2 p.m. - Adamson vs UST
4 p.m. - UP vs Ateneo

Far Eastern University virtually eliminated De La Salle on Saturday even as University of the East continued its winning ways in the UAAP basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Tamaraws asserted themselves over the Archers in overtime, 71-69, after the Warriors added the scalp of National University in their closet, 70-58.

The victory kept the Tamaraws in the No. 2 position while giving idle University Santo Tomas an automatic playoff for the No. 4 spot in the semifinals.

The Archers need to win their last assignment against the Bulldogs on Sept. 10 and pray that the Tigers lose their last two matches to forge the playoff.

A win by the Tigers over Adamson today will have La Salle missing the semis for the first time since the format was institutionalized in 1994.

Veteran Reil Cervantes and rookie RR Garcia refused to succumb to pressure in the second half and overtime period after a 65-65 deadlock in regulation and wheeled the Tamaraws back from an 11-point deficit.

Cervantes finished with 20 points while Garcia had 18 markers as the Morayta-based squad secured its first twice-to-beat advantage since winning the championship in 2005.

“Malaking achievement na ito sa amin na maka twice-to-beat heading into the Final Four,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio.

Despite having a slight chance at a berth in the semis assuming a Falcons win over the Tigers, Pumaren appears to be throwing in the towel.

“We didn’t play consistently. I think we were able to play hard the last few games but overall, the rebuilding stage continues and I’m happy at what my players accomplished,” Pumaren said.

With the Archers trailing by three in regulation, Samuel Marata hit an open trey with 7.9 seconds remaining to tie the game at 65-all. But the rookie spitfire failed to send the match to another extra period after missing a turnaround shot on the game’s last play.

In the first game, veteran guard Paul Lee continued his fiery offensive spark with 17 points and six rebounds as the Warriors scored their fifth straight win for a 9-4 record. It is the team’s longest streak since posting a 14-game sweep of the double-round eliminations two seasons ago.

“We won our fifth straight but we want to have more momentum heading into the Final Four,” said UE coach Lawrence Chongson, whose squad faces University of Santo Tomas on its final elimination round assignment on Thursday.

Lee, the reigning PBL Rookie of the Year, scored UE’s first five points and made 11 by halftime and combined with Paul Zamar and Val Acuna in helping the Recto-based dribblers sink 11 of 31 three-point attempts.

“He’s making up for lost time. I hope he’s peaking at a right time,” Chongson said of Lee.