Garcia, Ramos lift Tams past Green Archers

Far Eastern University rode on to the second half efforts of veterans RR Garcia and Aldrech Ramos as the Tamaraws defeated De La Salle University Green Archers, 74-65, Sunday in the opening salvo of the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum. Garcia, last year's Most Valuable Player, scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half while Ramos tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, and two steals to give the Tamaraws a head start for the season. FEU coach Bert Flores lauded the veterans who stepped up in the second half by doing a good job on breaking La Salle's vaunted pressing defense and good ball movement on offense. “We want to bring back the pride of Tamaraws especially now that we have players who will be playing in their final year," said Flores in Filipino. Garcia took over in the third quarter as he led a 17-6 salvo that helped turn a 35-39 deficit to a 52-45 FEU advantage after three quarters. The Tams even led by 10 at 66-56, behind Ramos' back-to-back baskets with two minutes and 48 seconds left in the game. The Green Archers had a 6-0 spurt to threaten for the last time, 66-62, with 1:11 left in the clock. Ramos, however, found Garcia inside for a short stab to give FEU a 68-62 breathing room with 48.9 ticks to go. "Hindi maganda ang simula ko pero malaki pa rin ang tiwala ni coach sa akin kaya nakabawi ako (I started out slow but good thing I have my coach's trust so I recovered)." said Garcia. LA Revilla, in his first UAAP game after a two-year hiatus recovering from diabetes, led the Green Archers with 18 points as he was the only double-digit scorer for the Taft-based squad, which will face arch-rivals Ateneo next week. - Reuben Terrado/JVP/KBK, GMA News