FEU coach Racela hopes for 'equal chance' against La Salle next time
All Far Eastern U head coach Nash Racela requests is equal chance when they take on defending champion La Salle anew this Wednesday in a do-or-die battle in their Final Four series in the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.
After failing to close out the third-ranked Green Archers, who scored a dominant 94-73 victory—their first after four tries against FEU this season—at the MOA Arena, Racela urged his charges to quickly pick up the pieces and shift their focus on their sudden-death showdown set at 6 p.m. at the Big Dome, with a coveted finals berth at stake.
Although he was visibly upset throughout their wire-to-wire setback that saw La Salle make 30 of its 46 attempts from the charity stripe, 16 of them coming in the third canto, and his FEU wards commit a total of 33 fouls, Racela refused to pin the blame of officials.
“Huwag na tayong mag-focus sa mga referees. You saw what you saw,” he stressed to a handful of sports scribes inside the press room, trying to convince his team did not end up on the short end of calls.
“We have a good chance if they allow us to defend. Because it’s hard because they’re bigger than us, stronger than us,” he noted. “But they played well tonight.”
But Racela admitted he’s hoping they could get an "equal chance" in their final you-or-me showdown this season. “Hopefully, we could get equal chance on the knockout game. That’s the most important thing. Pagdating sa last game, they should give us equal chance,” he said, an observation echoed by FEU’s prized guard Mike Tolomia.
“Tama si coach, sana magkaroon ng equal chance,” said the 5-foot-11 guard, who struggled with just seven markers on 2-of-14 shooting, no thanks to the Green Archers’ stingy defense, led by athletic wingman Julian Sargent.
“Mahirap man ‘yung magiging game pero doon mo makikita kung sino talaga ang gustong manalo,” added Tolomia. “Wala na akong comment about du’n (officiating). Focus na lang talaga sa game.”
Racela also added his charges need to make the right adjustments on the officiating. "“Sinasabi namin sa players, the referees will see what they want to see. Kahit tamaan ka, kahit tinira ka, 'wag ka na bumawi. Don’t even retaliate, don’t start something, don’t initiate. Kasi pagkalalaki mo lang naman yung na'ano, if they hit you. ‘Pag hindi nakita ng referees, maybe they just miss it,” he noted.
Although they have given the Archers a chance to survive, prized wingman Mac Belo, who sizzled with a career-best 32 points that still went down the drain, vowed he and the Tamaraws will leave no stone unturned in their bid to make it back to the finals for the first time since 2011, saying: “All-out na. Buhos na lahat,” he noted.
