Blue Eagles, Tamaraws battle for last UAAP 80 finals lost

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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Ateneo Blue Eagles and Far Eastern University Tamaraws are expected to leave it all on the floor in their do-or-die UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball semifinals match today at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The winner of the encounter scheduled at 4 p.m. will face defending champion De La Salle University Green Archers in the best-of-three championship series beginning Nov. 25.

Tamaraws forced a Game 2 in the semifinals series after an 80-67 upset victory against the erstwhile invincible Blue Eagles on Sunday.

FEU head coach Olsen Racela cautioned his players against being overconfident as he expects Blue Eagles to give everything to salvage their season.

“We need to prepare…We need to see what we can do to stop a very strong team like Ateneo,” Racela said. “Our Game 1 win was nothing since we only tied the series.”

Meanwhile Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin said he needs his players to regain their confidence after suffering back-to-back defeats that snapped their 13-0 streak.

“I think our confidence kind of went down, and I hate to see that because with young kids, you don’t ever want to see their confidence sort of erode a little bit,” said the former Gilas Pilipinas mentor.

“(Blue Eagles) have a successful season to fall back on in terms of looking for confidence. So really, it’s about me giving these players a message, something specific that they can look at and say, ‘Yes, we can do that,’ and go about doing it,” he added./PN
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