Edwin Asoro won the game… for the Tamaraws.

Actually, Don Yabut did. But his split freethrows because of the gravest mistake in basketball, fouling someone with the score tied with the game virtually over, committed by Asoro gave Far Eastern University an 86-85 overtime victory against National University at the Philsports Arena on the last day of July as the first round of the UAAP men's basketball eliminations near its end.

Surviving a slow start and a resilient Bulldogs squad biting for its first win, the Tams' fourth triumph was more of a relief rather than delight for them.

"It was really a miracle. Denok (Miranda) was out late in the third quarter (due to exhaustion), lahat kami na-foul trouble. Hindi ko alam kung ano ang tumama sa amin," surmised FEU men's basketball coach Koy Banal.

It was an Arwind Santos-Rey Mendoza showdown as their whatever-you-could-do-I-could-do-better match-up was one of the sidelights of the exciting match. Both finished with 28 points but Santos won both the battle and the war by shooting better, swatting more shots, and of course, the all-important win.

Miranda, despite being used sparingly in the final period, still had 17 points and five assists. Jeffrei Chan picked up the slack from the struggling RJ Rizada with 12 markers and grabbing eight rebounds.

On the other hand, the game's goat, Asoro, ended up with 13 points with nine boards for the Bulldogs.
An upset was brewing when National started the game with all cylinders running and Far Eastern playing erratic.
NU had their biggest lead in the first quarter courtesy of an Asoro three-pointer to go ahead, 17-5, more than five minutes into the game, and again later with a Cesar Estolano twinner near the end, 23-11.

This later ballooned to 30-17, still in favor of the 'Dogs from Sampaloc, when Mendoza beat the shot clock with a long jumper two minutes going into the second period.

Things became worse after Jerome Villanueva sprained his foot, and with Jed Cutler and Jobim Garcia out with injuries, Banal was left with a lean bench.

This was when Santos responded with seven straight points to get the bovines from Morayta back into the game, 26-32, midway in the second.

However, NU kept the Tamaraws on bay by pounding the ball inside and by converting their freethrows. Behn Balijon made the tally 39-26 with a layup still with more than three minutes remaining before halftime.

It was then a series of three-point conversions, either by a shot from beyond the arc or an and-one play, or in the case of Miranda, when he made three of four technical charities that were assessed to NU coach Rico Perez thus sending him out, that cut the deficit to one, 38-39, a blink later.

Santos had one of his moments during this sequence when he missed a three-point attempt, went for the rebound, recovered the leather, followed it up, and added spice by a foul coming from Marlon Mollena, something the fourth year Tam was trying to do twice before.

It took an eternity before the Green and Gold crew finally went ahead when Miranda scored on a jumper 6:18 in the third canto, 50-49. Although they managed to increase it to 54-49 when Yabut converted a jump shot from the key, their advantage was short lived as Estolano grabbed the lead back for the Bulldogs with a fade away, 2:20 left, 58-56.

Both teams suddenly found it hard to make a shot as they went blank for three minutes in the fourth period. The ceasefire was halted when Santos scored on a putback and Paul Flores scored his only points of the game by sandwiching a Chan layup with two shots beyond the three-point line, to let the Tams in command, 73-69, 1:57 to go.

A personal and technical foul committed by Asoro gave FEU the chance to pad the lead, 75-69. Nevertheless, Jonathan Fernandez's own five freebies sent the game into overtime.

It was during the extension when it became a Mendoza-Santos shootout. Mendoza had first strike with a three-point play off Roser Mangahas. Although Mangahas started the scoring for Far Eastern, Santos again made a three to regain the upper hand.

Mendoza then countered with his own power move inside to tie. A minute later, Santos faked a jumper, dribbled once towards the basket, and made an uncontested shot, 83-81, in favor of his team.

Another series of exchanges between NU's veteran center and FEU's lanky power forward turned the game into a deadlock, 85-all. Mendoza almost had one over Santos when he forced the latter to commit his fifth personal with only seven seconds left. However, he flubbed his chance to take the lead by missing both freethrows.

Bulldog pointguard Ronald King grabbed the miss though and Mendoza had another opportunity to take the win. Even so, he missed a point blank shot and this set up the infamous Asoro miscue when Yabut held on to the hold and the rookie 'Dog was called for holding the FEU slotman with time running out.

Their next face-off would be against the other winless squad, University of the Philippines, on August 5, three days before their well-anticipated rematch of last year's runner-up Ateneo de Manila University.

The Scores :

FEU 86 -- Santos 28, Miranda 17, Chan 12, Rizada 6, Isip 6, Flores 6, Yabut 3, Mangahas 3, Villanueva 2, Adolfo 2, Dela Cruz 1, Santiago 0, Barcellano 0, Babilonia 0.

NU 85 -- Mendoza 28, Asoro 13, D. Catamora 10, Fernandez 8, King 7, Estolano 6, Balijon 6, Mollena 4, Flor 3, Malcontento 0, Moradas 0, Malagueno 0, C. Catamora 0.

Quarters: 15-24, 42-45, 58-63, 76-76, 86-85.