Tamaraws’ ‘Big 3’ exits with a bang

Roger Pogoy, one-third of the Far Eastern University Tamaraws’ tough trip, rides on the shoulders of teammate Prince Orizu, as both key players celebrate their team’s first UAAP championship in 10 years. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Far Eastern University’s knack for finding unheralded young talents and molding them into amateur stars came to fore again as the Tamaraws relish in their UAAP championship glory.

Impressively churning out national and pro superstars for decades—Arwind Santos and Terrence Romeo currently among them—the Tamaraws may add more to their list as their latest amateur standouts again look headed for long-term basketball success.

This champion batch saw the emergence of Mac Belo, Mike Tolomia and Roger Pogoy, the team’s star trio who all patiently started as backups.

All three got plucked from their provinces, sacrificed from being away from home, focused on developing their games and now bask in the sweet results of their hard work.

“Our players have been really good ambassadors of FEU,” said FEU coach Nash Racela. “And I’m really proud of them because they represented the school well.”

Belo, this year’s Finals MVP, joined the Tamaraws five years ago as a raw 17-year-old from South Cotabato discovered in the National Games of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Tolomia also moved from Zamboanga City to be part of FEU’s juniors program, while Pogoy got noticed as a potential talent from University of Cebu.

These southern stars led FEU past a tenacious University of Santo Tomas in a grueling best-of-three title showdown, 2-1, which made the Tamaraws still the league best with a record 20 crowns.

“I’m so proud because we’ve all been together for a long time,” Belo said in Filipino. “We’ve waited for years, and now on our last year, we won the championship.”