Reliving tough Final 4 stand to fire up Tams

MANILA, Philippines - Forced to a rubber match after their 47-62 defeat to defense-oriented National U, the Far Eastern U Tamaraws hope to draw from their experience back in the Final Four and just do a repeat performance in Wednesday’s ultimate dispute for the UAAP Season 77 crown.

“Sinabi namin sa dugout (we told them after the game) just look back at that series against La Salle,” Tams coach Nash Racela shared after failing to clinch it in record-breaking Game Two at the Big Dome.

He was referring to the virtual best of three semis duel with last year’s champion La Salle, where the Tams prevailed in the first match (playoff for No. 2) then lost the second by a blowout but eventually emerged victorious in the deciding match to reach the finals.

“It’s the same thing. We won the first game, okay, it gave us a cushion, that’s why it’s called a series. They (NU) came back and actually won by a big margin similar to La Salle (in the second game of F4). Now we want the same result winning the third game,” said Racela.

After shooting 40 percent and fighting NU on even terms in rebounding in taking the opener, 75-70, the Tams struggled with a lowly 47-point tally. They shot a poor 28 percent clip and had 19 less rebounds than NU’s 58, badly losing on the offensive glass, 15 against 27.

Out-hustled and out-rebounded, that’s how Racela described the performance of his wards, who trailed by as many as 16 in the loss.

“There were a lot of 50-50 balls na naunahan kami ng NU (we conceded a lot of 50-50 balls to NU). We got outrebounded by a big margin – 19 – and they had 27 offensive rebounds. It’s hard to win like that because you’re giving them 27 extra possessions,” he said.

Racela also lamented their meager eight assists – nearly half of their output of 15 in the Game One win.

“The reason they (NU) led by a big margin at the start was maybe there was gigil (overeagerness) on the part of our players. But in the end, when you look at the stats, eight assists lang kami the whole game. It says a lot bakit kami natalo (why we lost),” said Racela.