Games Thursday (Philsports Arena)

1 p.m. — Adamson vs UE

3 p.m. — NU vs La Salle

MANILA, Philippines — Far Eastern University had an awful shooting in the payoff period Sunday but still managed to hang on for a 62-59 win over National University in the 74th UAAP basketball tournament at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Though both teams struggled with their outside shooting, it was the Tamaraws who got the key shots to frustrate the Bulldogs for their third win in four games.

Their defense on Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. also greatly helped their cause.

Cris Tolomia put the Morayta-based ahead, 60-59, on a three-pointer with 2:32 left and last year's Rookie of the Year hit another outside jumper to extend the margin to three with 1:08 remaining and scoring stopped from there.

"Ang hirap talagang maka-shoot," said FEU coach Bert Flores.

FEU finished 4-of-13 (31%) from the field in the payoff period but NU fared even badly, making only 2 of 14 tries.

Parks, Jr., much to his chagrin, muffed two game-tying threes against the tight defense of Ping Exciminiano, then Romeo stripped Dennis Villamor inside with less than five seconds left to seal FEU's victory.

The Bulldogs dictated the tempo for most of the contest with Gelo Alolino hitting a triple and a layup for a 54-49 lead with under a minute left in the third.

But the Tamaraws pulled within one entering the final canto, before Flores opted to use 6-foot-10 Cameroonian Christian Sentcheu to give their frontline the much-needed help.

In the other game, Adamson used a hot start to blow away University of Santo Tomas, 81-71.