UNIVERSITY of the East kept its hopes alive of ending a 14-year-old Final Four drought with a 87-86 overtime win over Far Eastern University in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Noy Remogat scored a career-high 34 points, the first 30-point game by a Red Warrior since Alvin Pasaol dropped 32 in UE’s 66-80 defeat to University of Santo Tomas on Oct. 6, 2018.

Abdul Sawat also played big for the Red Warriors with 20 points, also a career-high, including 13 in the regulation and overtime, while Jack Cruz-Dumont scored five of his nine points in the extra period.

With a 4-6 record, UE moved in a tie with holders Ateneo in fifth place, trailing fourth-running Adamson (5-5) by a full game in the race for the last Final Four slot.

“Sobrang blessed kami, yung team namin, na nagawa namin yung dapat ipagawa ni Coach Jack (Santiago) at yung coaching staff,” said Remogat, who also tallied eight assists, six rebounds, and three steals in the win.

“Sobrang natutuwa lang kami na, yun nga, buhay pa kami sa puwede pa makapasok sa Final Four. Siguro yung panalo namin last game and this game, makakatulong sa amin maipanalo yung susunod na games.”

The Red Warriors last reached the Final Four in 2009, where they made it all the way to the Finals.

In the women’s division, Maymay Canuto nailed her only basket of the game, a short jumper in the final 1.2 second as defending champion National University pulled off a 77-76 overtime victory over UST to formalize its Final Four entry with a 9-1 record.

Karl Pingol led the Lady Bulldogs with 21 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals while Tin Cayabyab added 11 points, including the buzzer-beating triple that sent the game to extra period. Princess Fabruada also scored 11 points.

“The endgame was a grind-out win for us,” said a relieved NU coach Aris Dimaunahan. “I have to give credit to our players for really, really playing together and for each other out there until the final buzzer.”

Louna Ozar had 17 points while Nigeria’s Favour Onoh logged a double-double outing of 13 points and 12 rebounds as UP avenged its first-round loss to Ateneo with a 71-48 victory and move closer in securing its first Final Four berth in 15 years with a 8-2 slate.

“Really proud of them. We committed ourselves in our game plan and the only thing that we talked about is they’re gonna give all their best every minute that they will play and it really showed,” said Fighting Maroons coach Paul Ramos.

The Tigresses and the Blue Eagles dropped to 7-3 and 6-4 marks, respectively.

Cholo Añonuevo returned after missing six games due to injury and scored 10 points but this failed to inspire the Tamaraws, who were swept by the Red Warriors in their elimination round head-to-head.

FEU slipped to 3-7, two games out of the last Final Four slot.

Jorick Bautista dropped 12 of his 21 points in the extension period while Ljay Gonzales had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Tamaraws. Xyrus Torres and Patrick Sleat added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The scores:

First game

UE (87) – Remogat 34, Sawat 20, Cruz-Dumont 9, Gilbuena 7, Lingolingo 6, Momowei 5, Tulabut 2, Maglupay 2, Langit 2, Cabero 0, Galang 0.
FEU (86) – Bautista 21, Gonzales 18, Torres 12, Sleat 11, Añonuevo 10, Faty 8, Tempra 4, Ona 2, Bagunu 0, Montemayor 0, Felipe 0.
Quarterscores: 18-14, 32-36, 54-56, 72-72, 87-86