FEU plays it right but loses to superior DLSU anyway
It's forty five minutes before tip off in the Mall Of Asia Arena on Wednesday, and the DLSU Green Archers are having a light shootaround before their game versus FEU.
Archer center Norbert Torres, wearing a black Jordan 23 singlet, is practicing post moves with Arnold Van Opstal. The two may compete for playing time, but the closeness is between the two bigs is plain to see. In fact, Van Opstal, even though he is the younger man, even gives Torres a lesson on how to avoid defenders who try to steal the ball from you.
He summons Luigi de la Paz over to pretend to steal the ball, then, with Torres as another defender, demonstrate how it's done: he scoops the ball over de la Paz's hand, takes a step, and lays up.
Torres nods, and the two share a hard low-five.
More than two hours later, it's the FEU Tamaraws who get schooled, as DLSU, trailing all throughout, blows by Far Eastern in the last quarter for a 71-68 win, a ninth straight triumph, and a Finals slot against either NU or UST.
Torres and Van Opstal play big roles in the win, with eleven and six points respectively. But even more tellingly, La Salle dominates the boards, out-rebounding FEU 51-39. Christian Sentcheu and Anthony Hargrove, who got into foul trouble early, put up insufficient resistance in the paint.
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FEU led practically the entire game up until early in the fourth quarter, when the Archers reeled off a 13-5 run to help settle the contest. FEU only mustered 12 points in the last 10 minutes.
De La Salle showed terrific composure in seizing the initiative in the endgame. But spare a thought for the FEU Tamaraws, who played the game right but got the short end of the stick.
Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden relates in his book “Wooden on Leadership” that it was more important for his teams to play correctly, rather than win. For him it was great when the side got the 'W” but that he would also praise his club for following the game plan and executing well even in defeat.
This would have been one of those games for FEU.
An hour before the match I chatted with FEU assistant Eric Gonzales outside MOA, and the topic of conversation was Terrence Romeo, FEU's star. Gonzales felt that Romeo had to play it smarter with his shot selection.
“Buti pa si James Yap. Kung mag 0-2 siya from outside, penetrate na siya.” Romeo went 1-11 from three-point range in the first game of the series.
“Ilang beses na namin siya pinagsabihan. Kahit si Johnny (Abarrientos, another FEU icon and assistant) pinagsabihan siya.”
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On Wednesday, Romeo finally listened. Although he did misfire again from beyond the arc, (0-6) Romeo showed a nose for finding the open man and led all players with seven assists.
(Cue Handel's “Hallelujah Chorus” right about here.)
Romeo was John Stockton with spiky hair on Wednesday, with Roger Pogoy, Mac Belo, Gryann Mendoza and Raymar Jose all beneficiaries of his newfound court sense.
But not only did FEU share the ball, they also worked hard to prevent it from going into their hoop. The Tam's defensive intensity was cranked up several notches for the first three quarters.
Carl Cruz also had a career day with sixteen markers. The big man showed his ornery side too, with staredowns after big buckets and some smack talk with DLSU's Thomas Torres.
Far Eastern out-assisted DLSU 17 to 14, had more steals (6 to 2), and won the turnover battle too, 15 to 20.
But they lost the game anyway.
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It all started to fall apart when graduating senior Mendoza was slapped with a technical deep in the third quarter after dissenting with the referee on a call. One can only speculate at what words he offered to the official, but they'd probably be akin to some of Gerald Anderson's lines from On The Job.
The technical came on the heels of a regular foul on FEU, thereby gifting Jeron Teng with four free throws, of which he swished three, to pull DLSU to within 56-52 at the end of the third.
Then with four and a half minutes to go the red-hot Cruz fouled out. That proved to be a devastating blow to FEU, who were unable to recover. Minutes later, Tolomia picked up a needless unsportsmanlike foul.
In the final minutes the rattled Tams resorted to desperation threes, none of which came close to hitting the target. Romeo heaving a perfect gecko-killer on to the board, RR Garcia air-balling straight into the hands of a DLSU defender, and Belo finding the very back end of the back rim from a tight angle.
And thus FEU's title drought continues. And the UAAP careers of Mendoza and Garcia end with a whimper.
But there is nothing but hope for the Archers, who are on the cusp of greatness after years of heartbreak.
Said coach Juno Sauler after the game: “our main focus is to be mentally prepared day-in and day-out. Wherever that leads us, we'll take it.”
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