Games Thursday (Araneta Coliseum)
2 p.m. — UST vs NU
4 p.m. — La Salle vs Adamson

Heavyweights Far Eastern and Ateneo flexed just enough muscle in disposing of their lowly rivals Sunday as action in the 73rd UAAP basketball tournament heated up going into the Final Four.

The Tamaraws bucked a slow start to notch a 70-48 defeat of winless University of the Philippines while the Blue Eagles survived a growling comeback by University of Santo Tomas for an 81-77 win at the Araneta Coliseum.

FEU improved to an 11-2 slate while Ateneo climbed up to 10-3, meaning that their clash on Saturday would determine which team will take the No. 1 spot in the Final Four.

A 17-0 run in the second quarter simply turned a tight contest into a runaway victory for the Tamaraws, who put the Maroons a loss shy of duplicating their dismal 0-14 slate in 2007.

Trailing 6-0 at the start and 8-7 at the end of the opening canto, the Morayta-based squad took over as they held the Maroons scoreless in first five minutes of the second period to gain a commanding 24-8 lead at the 4:45 mark.

From there, FEU prevented UP from making any threats as it led by as much as 23 points during garbage time.

"Mahirap palang maglaro ng no bearing at yung mga ibang players mo in the running sa mga individual awards kaya nawala talaga kami sa sistema pero pinagbigyan ko na lang dahil makakatulong naman sa kanila yun," said Tams taskmaster Glenn Capacio, whose team clinched a twice-to-beat advantage thanks to the defeats of Adamson and La Salle a day earlier.

Meanwhile, Ateneo enjoyed a 19-point lead with five minutes left only to see the stubborn Tigers rally back behind a barrage of threes from Clark Bautista and Jeric Teng to cut the deficit down to 80-77 with 36.6 seconds remaining.

A turnover by the Eagles' Nico Salva on the next play opened the door for UST to tie things up but Melo Afuang muffed a shot inside the paint in the hopes of trimming the margin to one. Kirk Long split his charities after a foul to settle the final tally.

"They started bombing us with three-pointers," said coach Norman Black. "It's very difficult to defend a team that shoots like that but we won that's the most important thing."

Most Valuable Player candidate RR Garcia was the only double-digit scorer for FEU with 12 points along with three rebounds and three assists.

Reserve Anton Bringas and seldom-used guard Gryann Mendoza combined for 15 points.

Eric Salamat erupted for 15 of his 18 points in the first half while reserve Chris de Chavez and center Justin Chua added 12 and 11 points, apiece, as Ateneo defeated UST (4-9) for the ninth consecutive time dating back to 2007.

The scores:

First Game

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, Reyes Ma. 9. Pascual 4, Juruena 4, Silungan 0, Saret 0, Manuel 0, Evangelista 0, Reyes Mi. 0, Hipolito 0, Gingerich 0.

Quarters: 7-8; 28-18; 47-36; 70-48.

Second Game

ATENEO 81 — Salamat 18, de Chavez 12, Chua 11, Long 10, Monfort 6, dela Cruz 6, Buenafe 6, Golla 5, Salva 3, Tiongson 2, Austria 2, Escueta 0.

UST 77 — Teng 23, Bautista 16, Daquioag 10, Afuang 10, Mariano 8, Fortuna 6, Pe 4, Wong 0, Tinte 0, Marata 0, Mamaril 0, Lo 0, Marquez 0, Camus 0, Aytona 0.

Quarters: 17-13; 40-23; 60-45; 81-77.