Tamaraws don’t have control of their Final Four fate, but they’re ready to do whatever it takes to give everybody else a headache.
The FEU Tamaraws are looking forward to challenge every team contending for a Final Four spot as they try to create chaos in the midfield of UAAP Season 87, winning over the UE Red Warriors, 59-51, in the second round on Sunday, November 3.
With their Final Four fate out of their hands at 4-7, the Tamaraws are technically still in the running for the semifinals. But still a couple of games behind the Top 4 with three games remaining in eliminations, FEU is now focused on smaller goals.
[RELATED: Tamaraws ride hot start in big win over UE, La Salle clinches 2x-to-beat bonus]
More than looking ahead on whether or not they make the semifinals, the Tamaraws simply want to pad their season total in wins — regardless of they make the Final Four or not.
Under new head coach Sean Chambers, they’re simply aiming to improve on what they were able to do last year.
“We wanted to first win more than three games from last year. So after that, now we want to get greedy. Now we want to get five, six, seven games now,” said Chambers.
“That's our goal now. We want to continue to show this kind of performance for the rest of the season, which I think we're capable,” he added.
Though the win against UE may have been surprising for some, as well as the current 3-1 slate the Tamaraws hold in the second round, Chambers said that it was exactly what he expected from his team in the latter half of the season.
“This is what I felt we were going to be the second round. This is the team I expect from us. We've been practicing so amazingly the last two weeks,” said Chambers.
The decorated PBA import lamented a stomach bug that derailed their bid against UST in the previous game, but now back to perfect health, his players were able to respond well.
“Unfortunately, not to make an excuse, but it is an excuse, I'm sorry. But we all came down with an illness the game for UST. I just felt so bad for everybody because up to that point we were practicing so well, we were playing well, and we all got hit with some kind of a bug and we all were sick against UST the night before,” narrated Chambers.
“As a matter of fact, [Jorick Bautista] was in the hospital until 4 a.m., the night before the UST game. So I knew coming back, same with Mo [Konateh], he had to go to the hospital. So for this game, we were healthy, we were practicing well, and I told them yesterday, I expect this to be really our true breakout game… We're going to be solid from start to finish, and that's what we were, that's what I expected,” he added.
FEU hit the ground running against a Final Four contender in UE, as the Tamaraws zoomed to a dominant 23-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. Despite toning down the offense in the next three cantos, FEU was able to keep a comfortable lead.
After a career night in scoring in the previous game, Veejay Pre finished with a team-high 20 points to go along with eight rebounds and one block.
Meanwhile, Bautista chipped in 12 points. Royce Alforque also had nine markers to go along with eight rebounds, and three assists.
Precious Momowei and Rainer Maga were the only bright spots for UE with their double-double performances.
Momowei finished with a monster double-double of 18 points and 21 rebounds to go along with two assists, and three steals. Rainer Maga, for his part, had 12 points, and 11 boards.
FEU resumes its quest as gate crashers in the semis race when the Tamaraws face defending champions La Salle on Wednesday, November 6, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.