MANILA, Philippines -- Far Eastern University (FEU) breathed new life into its UAAP Season 85 campaign with a much-needed two game winning streak to end the first round.

After a 0-5 start -- their worst in the league's Final 4 era -- the Tamaraws snatched two big wins through a 75-60 rout of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and a gritty 47-44 upset of National University (NU).

• READ: FEU outlasts NU in defensive grind

Leading the way for the Tamaraws in that stretch is Bryan Sajonia, who carried their offense with 23 points against UST. Sajonia made all nine of his two-point field goals against the Growling Tigers, before emerging as the lone double-digit scorer against the Bulldogs with 12 points.

His two-game averages of 17.5 points on 45% shooting, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in under 26 minutes of play proved to be enough to earn him the nod as the Collegiate Press Corps UAAP Player of the Week.

The scrappy Sajonia leapfrogged a loaded cast of candidates featuring Adamson University’s Jerom Lastimosa, Ateneo de Manila University’s Dave Ildefonso, University of the Philippines’ Carl Tamayo, and NU’s Steve Nash Enriquez for the weekly honor deliberated upon by print and online media regularly covering the league.

“Masaya kami dahil nakuha namin ang first win namin. Malaking epekto sa amin ang FEU community na sumusuporta sa amin. Masaya kami, siguro para sa amin, nakuha na namin ang break namin sa mga upcoming games pa,” Sajonia said.

“Ang sinabi lang naman ni coach Olsen [Racela] is maging confident kami [sa] lahat ng tira namin and magtiwala sa isa't isa. ‘Wag kami mag kanya-kanya. Dahil sa losing streak namin, kailangan naming mas maging buo as a team talaga.”

FEU (2-5) now enters the second round just one game behind University of the East, Adamson, and De La Salle University in the race for a spot in the Final 4.

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