Far Eastern University-Diliman’s road to redemption hit a significant setback before the UAAP Season 87 High School Boys Basketball Tournament even began.
After being dethroned by the NUNS Bullpups last season, the Baby Tamaraws said goodbye to their star players — Veejay Pre and Jedric Daa — all of whom graduated to join the Tamaraws’ Season 87 men’s basketball roster.
The blow became even worse after a harsh reality check at the hands of NUNS, with FEU-D suffering a 58-75 defeat in their first loss of Season 87.
To make matters worse, they would also be without the services of head coach Denok Miranda, who was away with FEU-D’s 16-and-under team at the Japan B.League Under-16 tournament.
He missed their next two match-ups against the University of the Philippines Integrated School and the University of the East.
While Cabs Cabonilas and Marc Burgos were expected to lead the Baby Tamaraws to a bounce-back victory over a struggling UPIS squad, it was the emergence of 5-foot-11 guard Liam Salangsang that helped FEU-D push through.
A heart-to-heart conversation between the Baby Tamaraws and Miranda before his departure for Japan was all Salangsang needed to inspire a big win in Miranda’s absence.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
UPIS made a late push to cut the deficit to 68-56 with just under seven minutes left. But FEU-D responded with a 12-2 rally, powered by back-to-back triples from Salangsang, to build an 80-58 cushion and seal the victory.
“Bago siya umalis, sabi nga niya sa amin na kami na raw bahala nila Marc at Cabs na i-lead yung team kasi wala siya sa two games namin this week. Kaya ayon, naging malaking boost yung tiwala niya para sa bounce back win namin at bounce back performance ko,” said the 19-year-old guard in an interview with Tiebreaker Times.
Salangsang quickly shook off his poor performance against NUNS, drawing strength from Miranda’s philosophy that athletes should never let a momentary slump define them.
After being limited to just eight points on 3-of-13 shooting (1-of-8 from three-point range) in their loss to NUNS, Salangsang came out firing. He led FEU-D’s rout of UPIS with 16 points — hitting 5-of-9 from beyond the arc — while adding four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
“Mag-enjoy lang dapat ako sa games ‘eh. Hindi ko dapat iniisip yung previous games or yung slump ko, pag masyado ko kasi inisip ‘yon, mas mape-pressure ako. Kaya nag-enjoy lang ako then thankfully the shots came through, five threes pa,” Salangsang shared.
However, it wasn’t just Miranda’s guidance that sparked Salangsang’s bounce-back performance. Long-time FEU-D figure Bert Flores, who took over as head coach in Miranda’s absence, also understood why Miranda would always push a talented player like Salangsang.
“Okay naman kasi halos yung mga play ko, pare-pareho lang. Eh, coincidentally, yung mga karamihan ng play ko designed for shooters, kaya sayang naman yung talent niya if hindi natin magagamit. Kaya sabi ko sa coaches, gamitin natin si Liam kasi sayang. Last game rin kasi off-night siya, nababantayan siya. Kaya ito, bumawi siya ngayon,” Flores explained.
