Epic Do-or-die Final 4!!

Do-or-die Wednesday!
by: Klyne Encarnacion



A super exciting Final 4 do-or-die games was held last wednesday at where else, "The Big Dome" the Araneta Coliseum. First game saw perennial contender Ateneo Blue Eagles bow to the defense oriented National University Bulldogs. NU had the difficult task of having to play a playoff game against the UE Red Warriors before facing the 1st overall seed Ateneo in the Final 4 game and they forced the deciding game last Wednesday when they beat the Blue Eagles on their first encounter. Prior to this game Ateneo had never beaten the Bulldogs this season as NU have had the better of the Blue Eagles 3 games to 0. On the last few minutes of the game it became a showdown of big time players, Kiefer Ravena for Ateneo and Jelo Alolino for NU. In the end NU prevailed with their defensive play. Although the game was halted for almost 40mins because of the lights in Araneta going out.



The second game lived up to the billing as well, as La Salle and FEU fought it out on a wire to wire game. This was a virtual best of three as the two teams ended the elimination tied with a 10-4 record, so they had a playoff game for the right to be the second seed. FEU won the first game of the virtual best of three series but the second game looked nothing like the first game as La Salle bounced back and pounded the Tamaraws to take the second game and force the deciding game 3. On the 3rd and final game, FEU from the start, got the lead but the Green Archers never waivered as they tied the game and even took the lead from the Tamaraws. The two teams went toe-to-toe as the game had several ties and lead changes. The Tamaraws lead as much as 5 while La Salle lead as much as 7. The 4th quarter saw a very tight game, and this as the cliche goes "this separates the boys from the men" as the superstars of each team showed how it was done. La Salle took the lead and was looking to pull away but the Tamaraws still had Mac Belo. Belo drained 2 jumpers to tie the game at 59, then Jason Perkins responded with an inside cut off a beautiful pass from Norbert Torres. Achie Inigo came back with a tear-drop shot to tie it at 61, then it was a Mac Belo 3 that gave the Tamaraws a 3 point lead. La Salle tied it again with a free throw and a wide open lay-up by Norbert Torres with 24.4 seconds left. Then the final play designed for Mike Tolomia was broken up as Perkins helped out on Tolomia thus giving Mac Belo a wide open three which he drains at the buzzer for the win!

Yeah! Arguably, one of the best Final four in recent years. Congrats to NU and FEU for making it to the Finals.