Coach Nash Racela’s dream lives on
Behind the heroics of King Tamaraw Raymar Jose and Monbert Arong, the defending UAAP champions Far Eastern University Tamaraws stormed back against the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles to take a 62-61 win and extend the semifinals series, Saturday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“I think that was the biggest challenge for us. Each and every person in the team really contributing to the cause because I think from the first to the 16th player nag-contribute today,” FEU head coach Nash Racela said. “Wala akong naalala na isang player na pinasok ko na hindi nakapag-bigay ng contribution, and that’s what we need going to the next game.”
No way said Raymar Jose, posting a monster double-double with 20 points and 23 huge rebounds. He shot 70 percent from the field and 6-of-9 from the stripe.
“Siguro yung focus ko talaga, yung anong makakaya kong gawin sa loob, bibigay ko lang,” the King Tamaraw said. “Last year ko na ngayon so kailangan ko mag-double effort, kahit triple pa. todo bigay lang kasi gusto ko rin na babalik kami sa finals.”
With the Blue Eagles up by a game-high 10 points, 49-39 with 8:14 left in the game, Arong started to heat up while Jose powered his way in the paint as the Tamaraws went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to just two points with 5:01 left in the game.
Free throws by Adrian Wong, who was 0-of-8 from the field, and an excellent find by Thirdy Ravena to Isaac Go gave Ateneo a little bit of breathing room. But the Blue Eagles failed to crash the boards resulting to a three-point play by Prince Orizu and a putback by Jose off of an Arong miss.
That’s when Monbert Arong took charge.
A split on the stripe by Arong tied the game at 55-all. And with the game tied, the Blue Eagles crumbled, going three-point hunting the rest of the way. On the other end, a stepback jumper by and three free throws by the Cebuano gave FEU a 60-55 lead.
Arong finished the game with 13 points, nine coming in the last 10 minutes of the game.
“Siguro mentally focused lang ako tsaka sinusunod ko lang yung gusto na ipagawa ni coach para sa akin,” Arong said.
“It wasn’t me, it was really Monbert finding his game back. It was the same with Toto [Jose], he was struggling when we were losing,” Racela furthered. “Ako, as a coach, ayoko sila kausapin. Alam ko marami sila nababasa. It was them who found a way to perform better.”
Ateneo tried to threaten right back after a tough triple by Aaron Black with 5.9 ticks remaining but an unorthodox play by Ron Dennison during an inbound scenario led to free throws that sealed the game.
FEU arrested their two game slide to Ateneo while snapping the Blue Eagles’ six-game winning streak.
“It’s also a motivation for me.Ii never wanted today to be or this game to be my last,” Racela shared.
FEU outrebounded Ateneo, 50 to 40. Moreover, the Tamaraws shot 36 percent from the field compared to 33 percent by the Blue Eagles.
Black led Ateneo with 11 points. Ravena filled-up the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
The win-or-go-home game between the FEU Tamaraws and the Ateneo Blue Eagles will take place on Wednesday, November 30 at the SMART-Araneta Colieum.
The Scores:
FEU (62) – Jose 20, Arong 13, Orizu 9, Comboy 8, Dennison 6, Inigo 4, Tuffin 2, Escoto 0, Trinidad 0, Ebona 0, Holmqvist 0, Nunag 0, Bayquin 0, Denila 0.
ADMU (61) – Black 11, Ravena 10, Asistio 9, Go 8, Verano 7, Ikeh 5, Nieto Mi 4, Nieto Ma 3, Wong 2, Porter 2, Tolentino 0.
Quarterscores: 10-10, 23-20, 35-42, 62-61.
