When the winner-take-all Game 3 kicks off at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Smart Araneta Coliseum, UAAP finalists Far Eastern University and National University would have each played a record 20 games, the most played by any team in a season in the country’s premier collegiate league.
Both the Tamaraws and the Bulldogs had to go through playoff matches after the elimination round and rode the full distance in the Final Four.
And both are at it again in the no-tomorrow contest of the best-of-three series that’s already replete with records.
Raring to go
But far from being spent, the Tamaraws and the Bulldogs are raring to go for the championship.
“In this kind of games, you have to give everything you’ve got,” said Far Eastern coach Nash Racela.
“The Xs and Os are just there to guide you and give you some structure. In the end, you just have to play.”
Highest attendance record
The showdown already set the highest attendance record for a single basketball game in the 39-year history of the Big Dome, when a massive crowd of 24,896 watched the Bulldogs level the series with a clinical 62-47 Game 2 triumph.
The Tamaraws took Game 1, 75-70, of the historic matchup that featured neither of the glamour teams—Ateneo and La Salle —for the first time in 20 years.
The series has been just as riveting with the Bulldogs vying to snap a 60-year title drought, the longest in league history, and the Tamaraws aiming for their 20th overall crown, the most number in the league.
“We have to throw everything out and just focus on that one game,” said NU coach Eric Altamirano.