#FilOil2019: FEU rally past Adamson to boost playoff hopes

SAN JUAN -- FEU and Adamson exchanged shots, stops and runs until the Tamaraws prevailed, 66-63 in their Group B battle at the FilOil FlyingV Preseason Cup Monday afternoon at the FilOil FlyingV Centre.

A crazy game of runs became the theme in the entirety of this all-UAAP contest, with the men from Morayta overcoming a fourth-quarter storm by the Falcons by launching a counter rally in the end to move into a 3-2 win loss record. 

Patrick Tchuente scored a perfect 14 points as he hit all of his seven field goals inside the arc for FEU, with Kenneth Tuffin pitching in 12 and Hubert Cani firing  11 in his first game back from the injured list.

Ater Xyrus Torres scored to make it 58-49 in the pay-off period, Adamson took flight and got ahead by scoring eleven unanswered that culminated on a Jerome Lastimosa bucket to give Adamson the final taste of the lead at 60-58 with 4:04 remaining.

But FEU countered that with an 8-0 run to finish them off, with Barkley Ebona's lay-up gaving them their 66-60 lead with a minute left.

The win was not yet assured when Aaron Fermin cut the deficit with a triple to get the Falcons back, but airballed his second try from beyond the arc with 2.4 left to deal them their second loss.

Adamson big man Lenda Douanga had a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds that went for naught.

The scores:

FEU 66 --  Tchuente 14, Tuffin 12, Cani 11, Ebona 6, Torres 6, Nunag 4, Bienes 4, Comboy 3, Dulatre 3, Gonzales 2, Stockton 1, Tempra 0, Celzo 0

Adamson 63 -- Douanga 17, Lastimosa 10, Fermin 10, Ahanmisi 9, Camacho 6, Manlapaz 5, Bernardo 4, Magbuhos 2, Maata 0, Sabandal 0, Yerro 0, Doria 0, Albason 0

Quarter scores: 13-14, 30-30, 53-45, 66-63

(Photo by FilOil FlyingV Sports)