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As painful as it was, Tamaraws don't want to forget feeling of losing Game 3

Far Eastern University came up short in its bid to regain lost glory in the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tournament but coach Nash Racela and a pair of key cogs still see a silver lining in the horizon, confident the Tamaraws can bounce back big next season.

"As painful as it is, we have to accept it, learn from it and move on,” said Racela as he painfully watched National U counterpart Eric Altamirano and the Bulldogs whoop it up at the center court of Araneta Coliseum following the Tamaraws’ 59-75 setback in their winner-take-all match witnessed by an overflowing crowd of more than 25,000 fans.

“One thing that we will gain from this one is the experience. That’s why I told our players to remember this feeling. Para next year, alam na nila kung gaano kasakit matalo sa finals at ano ‘yung dapat na nilang gawin,” he added.

The Tamaraws, who have already won a league-leading 19 men’s cage titles, were on the verge of claiming another one and ending the school’s nine-year drought after winning the opener of their best-of-three series 75-70 last Oct. 4 at the Mall of Asia Arena, thanks to a strong offensive showing from their supporting cast led by wingman RR Pogoy.

FEU, however, wasted its initial chance of closing out NU when it suffered a 47-62 setback in Game 2 last week then eventually saw its title hopes shredded to pieces by the Bulldogs’ unforgiving defense, anchored on center Alfred Aroga, in their sudden-death showdown.

Top wingman Mac Belo, who saw his double-double outing of 17 points and 13 rebounds go for naught, could not initially point out what went wrong.

“Speechless ako. Hindi ko alam ang sasabihin ko,” he offered. “Andu’n naman ang lahat, binigay rin naman namin ang lahat ngayong season. Kaso nagkulang pa rin kami sa finals lalo na sa teamwork at depensa. Nag-collapse na lang talaga kami.”

The loss was a more bitter pill to swallow for ace guard Mike Tolomia, who had a team-high 23 points, 11 of them coming in a fiery showing in the first canto, but still ended up a bridesmaid again in his second trip to the finals after they fell prey to Ateneo in 2011.

“Masakit pa talaga,” he said then quickly pointed out the biggest difference that did them in.

Although they had six more rebounds than the Bulldogs, Tolomia still felt they lacked the desire to match the 6-foot-7 Aroga, who hauled down a game-high 18 rebounds, eight of them from the offensive end.

“Talong-talo kami sa rebounding. Ipinakita ng mga bigs nila na mas gusto nilang manalo ngayon,” he said.

However, Tolomia is confident he and the rest of the Tamaraws will come out better from this.

“Mas titibay kami for sure dahil sa nangyari ito. Mas magiging motivated kami na bumalik sa finals next year,” he said, an observation echoed by the 6-foot-4 Belo, who added: “Babalik kaming mas malakas next year.”