When Sean Chambers and the FEU Tamaraws took the floor on Sunday at the PhilSports Arena, they had to play against someone intimately familiar with Morayta: Veejay Pre. That didn’t matter for the Tamaraws, who completely outplayed Pre’s UP Fighting Maroons to record their third straight victory in the UAAP Season 89 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
It doesn’t mean Chambers and the Tamaraws have completely forgotten about Pre’s departure. They haven’t, but they are moving on, and it’s one big reason FEU is looking like a title contender early in Season 89.
“Having Veejay [Pre] for two years, it was like he was one of my sons. But I know things are different now, things have changed. I don’t want him to do bad, but I want to make sure we [FEU Tamaraws] win. We moved on, and it’s a different era,” said Chambers after FEU’s 90-79 win over UP.
“The elephant in the room is losing Veejay. But ever since, we were able to keep [our players] at home. Pain makes you better, so we made sure that these guys all stayed home.”
Chambers Keeps FEU’s Talent In-House
Indeed, Chambers has made sure that talent stays in-house at FEU a year after Pre’s shock exit from Morayta. Kirby Mongcopa stayed, while Cabs Cabonillas and Marc Burgos took their talents from FEU-Diliman onto the senior squad for UAAP Season 89—and possibly beyond.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Mongcopa and Cabonilas starred in FEU’s latest win, with the former putting up 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists, and the latter finishing with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. Mongcopa was particularly lethal in the third canto, where he fired 8 points in the Tamaraws’ 16-2 start to the second half that all but put away the game.
Pre did well himself for UP as he tallied 16 points and 5 rebounds in a losing effort. But, on Sunday, the FEU-Diliman stalwarts who stayed with the program got the win and proved they’re more than capable of finishing what Pre started in 2024.
Still Early
In all, FEU has won three in a row thanks mostly to the play of its homegrown stars. Chambers, though, isn’t getting too high with this three-game winning streak, noting how it is still very early in the season.
“We’re gonna learn from people in the past,” he said. “It’s still so early. If we had lost these last two games, we’ll still say the same, it’s still early,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re gonna enjoy it, but we gotta move on right away. You have to continue to win to get into the Final Four.”
Chambers is right. But with this early-season statement, it’s looking like the Tamaraws could be headed to the Final Four after all.
