IT’S the UAAP finals and statistics hardly matter anymore.
Far Eastern University team manager Richie Ticzon said the two losses the Tamaraws suffered in their head-to-head showdown with the University of Santo Tomas are a thing of the past and the team is treating its best-of-three title series against the Tigers an entirely new ballgame.
“Definitely, they (Tigers) have the advantage. They beat us twice in the eliminations. Hopefully, we can turn things around (in the finals),” said Ticzon, who represented FEU coach Nash Racela in Tuesday’s session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate.
Game 1 of the first championship series between the two proud schools in the last 36 years starts Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Tigers and Tamaraws both finished the eliminations with identical 11-3 (win-loss) records, but the Espana-based school clinched the no. 1 seed for beating its counterpart from Morayta, now just once but twice during the preliminaries.
But Ticzon, a former PBA player, said the Tamaraws are hardly concerned about being swept by the Tigers this season. All they want is to compete and hopefully, win the championship that eluded them last year when they lost to the National University Bulldogs in a thrilling do-or-die encounter.
“There’s not a score to settle. We just lost twice in the eliminations (to them). We just wanted to make it back to the finals, hope to perform better, and win the championship,” stressed the FEU official in the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
The Tamaraws are in the finals for the fourth time in the last six seasons, while the Tigers made it back to the championship round for the third time in the last four years.
The Tamaraws won their last UAAP cage crown in 2005, while the Tigers succeeded them in 2006 when they reigned kings of the country’s premier collegiate league for the last time.
FEU is the winningest men’s basketball team in history with 19 titles, followed by UST with 18 in a tie with University of the East.
Ticzon did acknowledge the Tigers are a more mature team this season especially the core of Karim Abdul, Kevin Ferrer, Ed Daquioag, and Louie Vigil.
Yet, at the same time he believes the Tamaraws have more championship materials now than with the team which lost to NU in last season’s finals.
“Anim ang graduating namin this year kaya ang feeling namin at this point, we have a deeper bench this season, “ said the former Ateneo stalwart.
Ticzon added the Tamaraws may have the edge in the backcourt and the wings, especially with Mike Tolomia, Roger Pogoy, and Mike Belo leading the charge, but the presence of the intimidating Abdul and the talented Ferrer gives the Tigers the advantage in the front-court.
“I believe this is going to be a good match,” said Ticzon, who however, refused to say whether the series will go the distance or not.
Game 2 is set on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, while Game 3, if necessary, will be played Wednesday of next week also at the MoA.