“Frustrating. Sobrang down ‘yung nangyari sa’min.”
RJ Abarrienos did not mince his words after tallying a new career-high in scoring against National University on Saturday morning.
The rookie lit up 33 points on eight three-pointers but his scoring rampage went for naught as the Tamaraws absorbed a narrow 68-73 loss at the hands of the Bulldogs.
“Sobrang struggle for me and my team. Siyempre ‘di madali na matalo,” he lamented. “Doon pa rin ako sa positive side. Gusto ko parin makita ‘yung team namin na mas mag-gel kahit na ano ‘yung mangyari sa’min throughout the games.”
“Dito makikita at dito masusubok ‘yung samahan namin kahit na ganun ‘yung mga nangyari.”
Abarrientos caught fire in the third quarter and notched 30 points before heading into the final canto. However, the Bulldogs found a way to put the clamps on the Gilas guard for the remainder of the game. The entire FEU squad was neutralized on offense as Abarrientos only managed to knock down a single field goal in the last five minutes en route to a tough defeat.
The 22-year-old playmaker ended the tilt with five rebounds and an assist in 29 minutes and 17 seconds of action.
Tamaraws head coach Olsen Racela rued the lack of production from their non-starters as a major factor that led to their defeat. It spelled a huge difference, since FEU only scored 11 bench points in the game compared to the Bulldogs’ 40.
“Obviously we need production from the other guys. ‘Yun ‘yung kulang namin the past games eh. ‘Di pwedeng isa o dalawa lang, dapat collective ang contribution,” he claimed.
“Same thing today, we didn’t get any production from our bench, so I need to address that.”
The PBA great also pointed out that they need to improve their defense and rebounding efforts in order to keep in step with their opponents in their coming games.
“We couldn’t make the stops when we needed to. We couldn’t get the rebounds when we needed to. ‘Yun ‘yung sigurong kailangan naming i-improve — learning to play in crucial moments of the game.”
Abarrientos and the Tamaraws (1-3) will aim to get back in the win column when they face off against University of the East on Tuesday, 4:00 PM at SM Mall of Asia Arena.
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