Photo from Filoil Flying V Sports Facebook account.
Take Monbert Arong and Ron Dennison out of Far Eastern University’s lineup on Wednesday and it will be unrecognizable compared to the team it had when it won the UAAP championship last December.
But as the Tamaraws learn to adjust following the graduation of six of their key players, their winning mentality is the same.
FEU kicked off its campaign in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup on a winning note after beating San Sebastian, 77-64.
The Tamaraws, however, failed to please their head coach Nash Racela.
“We had too many turnovers,” said Racela. “I think in the first half we had 19 and maybe end of the game we had 35.”
“So we really need to put importance on protecting the ball. It’s a very big problem and we’re not even playing La Salle, Adamson and other UAAP teams that are trapping,” Racela added. “If we play the other UAAP teams we’d probably be losing by 20 points.”
Fortunately for FEU, it found other ways to win despite turning the ball over 35 times that led to 21 turnover points for San Sebastian.
Arong scored a game-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field that went with five rebounds while Allen Trinidad and Steve Holmqvist had 11 points each.
The Stags managed to keep the game close in the second half despite trailing big early.
Ryan Costelo and Michael Calisaan kept San Sebastian fighting as the two combined for 28 points.
The Tamaraws missed the services of mainstays Richard Escoto, Prince Orizu and Raymar Jose.