Nash Racela finally evened the score in his matchup against older brother Olsen in UAAP Season 84 as Adamson University emerged victorious in a 64-63 victory over Far Eastern University on Tuesday afternoon.
The Soaring Falcons’ latest win avenged the heartbreaking loss that they suffered in their first-round encounter against the Tamaraws – which came by an RJ Abarrientos game-winner.
Now on the winning side, Nash Racela felt ecstatic as his team went to battle and grabbed the elusive victory. This, even without foreign student-athlete Lenda Douanga, who is still nursing an ankle injury.
“It’s always a nice feeling when you win, of course,” said Nash. “Now you know how Coach Olsen felt the last game we played. Siyempre ako, initially because I wanted the team to win, talagang we gave everything that we’ve got.
“In the end, it’s nice that we were able to get that win. But sabi nga niya na when you look at the other side and you see your brother – mag-iiba. I’m happy for our team because even without Lenda, we were able to compete and win today.
“That’s something that we made clear before the game, that as long as we give our best, do our part — even with any kind of lineup that we have… [That] Will give us a chance to victory,” he continued.
Indeed, the Soaring Falcons gave their best effort. They refused to go down without a fight after engaging in a nip-and-tuck affair all game long. Once again, Jerom Lastimosa had the ball in his hands in the dying seconds of the game.
He eventually found Matty Erolon at the corner. The rookie then drained the go-ahead three-pointer with three seconds left.
The UAAP Season 78 champion coach only had good words to say to his wards after a successful execution in crunch time. He also commended Jerom Lastimosa for making the right read and learning how to play better with his teammates with the game on the line.
“Now you cannot actually question him, because he made the right decision in making that last pass.
“I always celebrate those plays, not because of the shot by Matt [Erolon], because I know that he’s capable of making that and that’s his role in this team. I celebrate more the assist – the pass that Jerom [Lastimosa] made. It’s because now he’s learning how to play and share the ball with his teammates,” said Racela about the Adamson senior who has been his trusted closer in late-game situations.
On the defensive end, the Soaring Falcons also managed to contain Emman Ojuola as time expired. That allowed them to run away with the narrow win.
“Defensively, we were anticipating that they might go to Emman [Ojuola] because they were only down by a point. As a coach, I think that’s the right decision made by Coach Olsen to go inside… It just so happened that we were able to counter that,” claimed the Adamson head coach.
Nash Racela and his men have improved to a 2-6 record. And their latest victory may just be the spark they need to achieve greater results in the second half of the season.
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