By Leiniel A. Santos

Far Eastern University (FEU) head coach Sean Chambers expressed his confidence in the Tamaraws despite their defeat against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 78-86, exiting Final Four contention in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 men’s basketball tournament earlier today, November 16, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City. 

“Nothing [is] guaranteed, but everybody looking from the outside, they are already going, ‘FEU is a problem next year,’ and we know that. But we also know, I know, with my history in the Philippines, it doesn’t just make me show up and we’re going to be better. We’re gonna have to put our time in, our work in,” he said in the post-game conference.

The Tamaraws started the match with rock-solid defense as Veejay Pre and Mo Konateh blocked multiple shots of the Fighting Maroons.

However, the Diliman-based squad was still able to carry out three-pointers that gave them the advantage in the first quarter, 16-22.

FEU then suffered a 2-5 slump against UP in the first minute of the second frame, which forced head coach Sean Chambers to call an early timeout. 

Tamaraws Pre and Jedric Daa answered back with their own shots from downtown to bring UP’s lead down to three, 27-30.

The green-and-gold squad raised their intensity as they forced a deadlock courtesy of Jorick Bautista’s behind-the-arc shot and Pre’s successful free throws, 32-32.

Both teams showed alternate periods of dominance but the Tamaraws fell short of attaining the lead by the end of the first half, 39-42.

During the start of the second half, the Fighting Maroons started strong again with a 13-5 run which put FEU behind by 11, 44-55.

Fortunately, rookie Pre made a buzzer-beater trey at the end of the third quarter which brought UP’s lead down to five, 62-67.

With 3:41 time on the clock in the final frame, FEU was able to shake off the Fighting Maroons as their lead got lowered to three, 72-75.

Unfortunately, UP’s JD Cagulangan came up big during the last seconds of the game which outshined the Tamaraws.

Coach Chambers also considers that FEU is now ‘one of the best four teams in the conference.’

“To come where we started off in the first round, some guys are giving up at that point in time but our growth and the way we continue the battle and fight. In this second round, I honestly felt that we’re one of the best four teams in the conference right now. We just unfortunately were not as prepared as we could’ve been,” he said.

Four Tamaraws scored double digits including rookie Pre and Pasaol with 15 markers. Meanwhile, Bautista was the leading scorer for the team with 16 points, along with Konateh’s contribution of 11.

The Morayta cagers concluded their Season 87 journey in sixth place, showing growth with an improved 5-9 win-loss record from last year’s 3-11.

(Photo by Krystoffer Zyanel Bermudez/FEU Advocate)