THIS Saturday’s (November 16) doubleheader in the UAAP Season 87 Men’s Basketball Tournament is unlike any other, as both games will be important and will determine the Final Four.
With only a few remaining weeks three teams from the two sets of the games are vying for a spot in the Final Four.
At the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City, the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws are up for a tough task against the second seed University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons.
Following that game, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers will look to secure the third seed when they face the Final Four-seeking Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons, all at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
One last charge?
If there is one day when these Tamaraws should live up to their university’s motto “Be Brave” and give it their all, today will be it, considering their season is on the line this afternoon.
With a 5-8 record, the Recto-based squad, which is 4-2 in the second round, is only hoping for the best when they face the Diliman squad at 2:00 PM and hope that everything goes their way from there.
A loss versus UP will mark the end of FEU’s first season under their new system, while a win means they’ll hope that either the Growling Tigers or the UE Red Warriors don’t reach seven victories, forcing a playoff for No. 4.
Despite the pressure, FEU head coach Sean Chambers will undoubtedly continue to talk about his young but talented club, which has proven to be a problem in the second round given their desire to reach the Final Four.
“I’m so proud of these guys. Last game, I’ve been pretty tough on them in practice… and their responses were amazing. They are just so good kids, they’re disciplined and they wanna win,” said Chambers.
“Our goal this season was to show progress. We wanted to win more than [the] three games from last year. Now, we wanna get greedy — we want to get five, six, seven games now. So that’s our goal now.”
“We wanna continue to show this kind of performance for the rest of the season, which I think we’re capable [of],” added the tactician, on the progress that his young team had.
Jorick Bautista, super rookie VJ Pre, Janrey Pasaol, and foreign student athlete Mo Konateh will seek to avenge their first-round setback of 69-58 versus UP, and keep their Final Four dreams alive.
España or San Marcelino?
On the other side, the Growling Tigers will continue their quest for their first Final Four appearance in five years against the Soaring Falcons, who are hoping to keep their faint semifinal aspirations alive as well.
A win for UST versus Adamson this evening at 6:30 PM will secure their third seed placement in the Final Four, since they hold the tiebreaker over struggling UE after sweeping their elimination round games.
“Basta yung team namin naka-focus. Alam naman nilang mangyayari yan kasi this is the seconnd round. Magiiba ang laro, magiiba ang tema,” said Growling Tigers head coach Pido Jarencio.
“Lahat gustong umakyat, gustong pumasok sa Final Four. Basta sabi ko sa kanila, tumanggap lang tayo ng tumanggap. Ang importante, we play fair. Wala tayong masasaktan. We’re going to play physical but not rough.”
The Growling Tigers last made the Final Four in 2019, when they advanced to the Finals. This was under Rhenz Abando’s era, when they faced the unbeatable Ateneo Blue Eagles team of Thirdy Ravena in the Finals.
Meanwhile, Adamson will play Ateneo on Nov. 23 to make up for the Oct. 23 game that was postponed due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, and UE will finally face UP on Nov. 20 after their scheduled duels were also canceled.
