FEU Tamaraws ace Jorick Bautista. Photo from UAAP Media

MANILA (UPDATED) — Far Eastern University is finally in the win column of UAAP Season 87.

The Tamaraws did so after they escaped Ateneo de Manila University, 66-65, during their men's basketball tournament faceoff at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Sunday.

Jorick Bautista led the Morayta-based team with 18 points — six in the fourth and eight in the extension — and this allowed them to stave off the late attempt by the Blue Eagles to steal the victory.

"Trinabaho talaga namin yung mga extra work namin," said the veteran Tamaraw guard in the postgame presser, after also putting up five rebounds, a steal, and an assist.

"Actually nag shoot-around pa nga kami kaninang umaga kasi yun yung gusto ni coach Sean [Chambers] sa amin, na sanayin namin yung shoot-around para lumabas yung laro. Nagbunga yung mga pagod namin sa training," he added.

It was Bautista who worked wonders for the FEU in the fourth and in overtime, especially since Kristian Porter and Sean Quitevis brought some life for Ateneo in the extension as the former opened OT with a triple while the latter aced his trip to the foul line to get Ateneo within striking distance, 57-56, with still 2:28 left in the game. 

"Sinabi ko lang sa sarili ko na gumawa lang ako ng tama kasi alam kong ire-reward ako sa huli," said Jorick on his headspace in crunch time.

"Kaya ayun nga, na-reward ako. Composed lang rin ako at ginawa ko lang yung trabaho ko sa court. I'm struggling, pero dumepensa ako doon ako kumuha ng kumpiyansa ko sa huli," he added.

Meanwhile, Chambers explained how all of their previous losses served as growing pains for his youthful Tamaraws.

"We told you that it's gonna take some time ‘cause these guys are so young," said Coach Sean, whose squad was at 0-4 before this game. 

"They're still getting used to playing at this stage, and learning my system. All of those losses, I got to be man enough to take all of those. But I said last game that pretty soon, every team is gonna have a hard time playing against us," he added. 

Ateneo indeed had a hard time especially in the end game as aside from Bautista's heroics, they also dealt with Jared Bahay's missed technical free throw that would have cut their deficit to one, and they also weren't able to box out Mo Konateh who scored a crucial putback to lift FEU's lead to three, 59-56, also in the end game.

Adding insult to injury, Bahay's lone miss from the foul line could have also helped the Eagles' case as Shawn Tuano made a late-second three-pointer to get within one, 66-65, right before the buzzer sounded.

As a team, Ateneo made just 10 of their 23 free throws in what turned out to be a one-point loss.

Bahay finished the game with 11 markers, Porter scored the same amount on top of nine boards, while Chris Koon top-scored for Tab Baldwin's crew with 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists.

The Katipunan-based squad fell to 1-5 after this game.

The Scores:

FEU 66 – Bautista 18, Alforque 12, Konateh 10, Pre 10, Pasaol 10, Montemayor 4, Daa 2, Nakai 0, Ona 0, Bagunu 0, Jones 0.

ATENEO 65 – Koon 12, Porter 11, Bahay 11, Quitevis 9, Lazaro 6, Tuano 6, Gamber 6, Espinosa 3, Balogun 1, Bongo 0, Espina 0, Ong 0.

Quarterscores: 19-14, 27-32, 40-41, 51-51, 66-65.