MANILA, Philippines – The FEU Tamaraws easily took down the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 88-64, to start their UAAP Season 78 with a bang on Sunday, September 6, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Coming in this season as the favorites to win the title, the Tamaraws justified the high expectations bestowed upon them with a superb performance on both sides of the floor.
After the victory. FEU head coach Nash Racela talked about how proud he is of his boys with their performance.
“I’m proud of all of them, kasi (because) they were up to the challenge,” he said during the post-game press conference.
“We always remind them that: pag nagkaroon kayo nang challenge mag laro sa loob (if you get the challenge to play in the game), regardless of of the length or the duration - it’s two minutes, it’s 10 minutes - you just have to do your part. Today they did.”
The Tamaraws raced off to a hot start in the first period by going on top 23-11 and never looked back. Roger Pogoy led the scoring department with 19 points off the bench, while fifth-year guard Mike Tolomia had 17 points, 8 boards, and 6 dimes.
Tamaraws star Mac Belo barely made his presence felt in the first two quarters but still wound up with 16 points. Raymar Jose also played well, putting up 16 points and 10 boards.
“We don’t play for others,” Racela said when asked if the win was a statement to the rest of the league. “Importante saamin (what’s important) is we just focus at the task at hand, kahit sino yung kalaban namin (whoever our opponent is). We were just fortunate kasi (because) today, our outside shots were coming in, especially at the start of the ball game.”
FEU attempted just 4 free throws but shot 51% from the field and 34% from downtown. They also got the job done on defense, where the Blue Eagles were limited to 30% shooting from the floor.
But most importantly, according to Racela, was how the Tamaraws unselfishly shared the basketball.
“If you score 88 points in 40 minutes that’s good enough. I think we carried over one of our strengths from last year - today we had 17 assists. That’s always the emphasis on this team: keep on sharing the ball.”
Racela, however, was unhappy with one con on the defensive side of the floor.
“Our objective on defense was to limit the touches of Kiefer Ravena. He scored 25. He took 18 shots and 8 free throws, so I don’t think we were successful defensively, so kailangan mag trabaho pa mga to (they still need to work on that).” – Rappler.com