By Leiniel Santos

Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws scaled down their quarterfinal chance as they slumped against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers, 76-81, in the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup earlier today, June 3, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

FEU’s Janrey Pasaol and Veejay Pre kicked off the match with back-to-back shots in the paint to answer to the great start of DLSU’s Kevin Quiambao who made an early trey.

However, the Taft-based squad lit up the scoreboard with a 6-0 run, but the Morayta-based team cut the lead and ended the first quarter only behind by four.

Fortunately, the Tamaraws found their missing momentum before the end of the first half with Pre’s five consecutive points and Luke Felipe’s fastbreak lay to tie the match, 29-29.

During the third quarter, the match was back-and-forth, not until Green Archer Henry Agunanne’s jump shot sparked their team’s momentum. 

FEU struggled to put pressure on La Salle’s offense, which resulted in a 11-point deficit to end the third quarter.

Morayta-based Jorick Bautista and Pre’s clutch performance were on the brink of forcing a deadlock near the end of the match, but Quiambao went full force to secure the win. 

In an interview with FEU Advocate, Pre shared that they are still not satisfied with their performance.

“Unang una, ‘di pa rin kami kontento kasi alam namin sa sarili namin na kaya namin manalo. ‘Yun nga, marami rin kaming chance na manalo pero do’n kami nagpadala sa sarili namin (First of all, we are still not contented because we know to ourselves that we can win. Also, we had many chances to win, but we succumbed to our own pressure),” he said.

He also added that they still need to build on everything for them to enter the quarterfinals.

“Lahat naman [kailangan] i-improve para makuha namin ‘yung spot namin sa final four [of the UAAP pool] (Everything [needs] to be improved so that we can get our spot in the final four [of the UAAP pool]),” he mentioned.

Rookie Pre led the scoring load for the Tamaraws again with 21 points, five rebounds, and three assists.

Felipe and Bautista also fired up double markers of 15 and 13, respectively.

The green-and-gold squad now stands with a 3-3 win-loss record and will try to redeem themselves in their next game against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Thursday, June 6, at the same venue.

(Photo by Krystoffer Zyanel Bermudez/FEU Advocate)