Seniors Dennison, Trinidad grateful to Racela for Season 80
Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Ron Dennison and Jojo Trinidad celebrated a championship for Far Eastern University in Season 78, but the two couldn’t win another one before they ended their UAAP careers.
The Tamaraws lost to the top-seeded Ateneo Blue Eagles, 88-84, in their Final Four rubber match in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament, but both Dennison and Trinidad would rather remember the good memories during their stay at FEU.
“I would really like to give a big ‘thank you’ to coach Olsen [Racela] because he gave Jojo and I this kind of a season,” said Dennison in Filipino Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
READ: Racela apologizes to Dennison, Trinidad for FEU’s Final 4 exit
FEU finished the elimination round with a 7-7 record and as the No. 4 team in the league and Dennison couldn’t be more grateful at what the Tamaraws had accomplished as they came just a shot away from making the championship round.
“Even though our team went through ups and downs, the guys still trusted Jojo and I,” said Dennison, who finished with four points, three rebounds, and four assists in his final game.
Dennison had been the unquestioned emotional leader of the Tamaraws for Season 80 as he put up his best statistical year in his five seasons with FEU averaging 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
And if Dennison stayed primarily as one of FEU’s main contributors, the same cannot be said for Trinidad.
The Fil-Am guard was initially a starter for Racela but then fell out of the rotation midway through the season before regaining his spot in the starting five near the tail end of the eliminations.
Racela even apologized to Trinidad for the way he bounced around the lineup, but the graduating Tamaraw was just happy Racela trusted him in every sense of the word.
“He said I went through a lot, that he should be sorry, but I trusted him,” said Trinidad who had six points and two boards in his exit game. “I didn’t expect anything this season, I was just ready and because he’s our coach I knew I could trust him.”
