FEU head coach Sean Chambers believes that the Tamaraws are ready to take the next step after a big win over La Salle in the second round of UAAP Season 88.
The FEU Tamaraws kept their tournament alive on Sunday with a gutsy win over last year’s finalists La Salle, 84-83, staying in contention for the UAAP Season 88 Final Four at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Following some close calls against other contending teams — most recently the NU Bulldogs — FEU finally came out on top after another tense finish.
Having seen his team rise to the challenge, head coach Sean Chambers believes that there is no better time to after contenders, especially as they enter the final stretch of the elimination round in Season 88.
[RELATED: UAAP: FEU stays alive in Final Four race with gutsy win over La Salle]
“For us, as I left the house today, I kept saying to myself, we have to beat one of the big teams in this tournament in order for us to finally to arrive,” Chambers said after the match.
“With a sophomore, sophomore, and a freshman, we have to eventually have a level of maturity level where we can win one of these games when it's close. And if we can, we feel like the sky's the limit for this team,” he added.
Maturity was evident in FEU's matchup against the Green Archers.
After taking a double-digit lead earlier in the match, FEU had to fend off La Salle’s comeback efforts, where the Green Archers even took the lead in short spurts of the fourth quarter.
With a minute and change remaining, La Salle was ahead, 83-82, after Luis Pablo’s personal 4-0 run.
But Kirby Mongcopa’s late-game heroics — punctuated by a go-ahead bucket and a defensive stop on Jacob Cortez — bailed out FEU.
Now at 5-7, the Tamaraws are still in shouting distance of the top 4, and taking down one team above them in the standings could prove crucial down the line.
The Future is Now
In his second year of coaching for FEU, the growth has been tremendous for Chambers' Tamaraws.
Even after the exit of promising star Veejay Pre during the offseason, FEU has looked like a team on the rise, especially in the second round where they’ve gotten some key victories to offset a poor start.
Working patiently in FEU’s system, Chambers is happy to see the development with players like Jedric Daa and Janrey Pasaol.
“These guys have grown as a unit together since they've been in high school. Right? So, to see their growth as a unit and see how they're growing with the rest of the guys, it's amazing,” he said.
“Because our first game against Ateneo, we had a chance to win it, but we weren't playing at this level. And then, I think since the last Adamson game, or UE game, I think we're something like 4-6 or something like that right now, if I'm not mistaken. So, we continue to get better and better.”
It’ll still be an uphill climb for FEU, though, as the road gets tougher with the tail-end of eliminations coming.
FEU faces the winless UE Red Warriors next on Saturday, November 22, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.