Hot-shooting Arvin Tolentino focused on making up for lost time

MANILA, Philippines – The FEU Tamaraws finally won their first game in the second round of the UAAP Season 81 with an 80-61 revenge win over the UE Red Warriors.

After losing 4 straight games and getting stuck in a standings war with UP, UST and NU, the Tams avoided dropping to 6th place and climbed to share of 4th with a 6-6 record.

That’s largely thanks to a streaking Arvin Tolentino, who knocked in a team-high 18 points in just 24 minutes against the bottom-dwelling Warriors.

Make that two straight games where the controversial forward led FEU in scoring after tallying 20 markers in their last loss against La Salle.

After sitting out 3 games due to suspensions, Tolentino is just set on making up for lost time.

“Just doing my best, kasi medyo malalim na rin kami sa standings,” he said after the game. “Crucial din ‘tong last two games. After that four-game losing streak, we stayed positive. Kahit papano, eto good start dito sa last 3 games namin. Good start ang panalo namin sa UE. Hopefully, ma-carry namin yun to the next game.”

(Just doing my best, since we’re getting deep into the standings. These last two games are crucial. After that four-game losing streak, we stayed positive. At least, this win against UE is a good start for these last 3 games. Hopefully, we carry that to our next game.)

Since his return from suspension, Tolentino has averaged 19 points on a 55% shooting clip on top of 4.5 rebounds. With at least two games left in his UAAP career, he’s certainly planning to make them count after a very untimely absence.

“Mahirap din kasi parang alam ko naman na kaya kong tulungan mga teammates ko,” he said. “Wala akong magawa. Ginawa ko lang in-encourage ko yung teammates ko kahit di ako naglalaro at nagdasal lang ako para sa kanila. Mabigat din yun para sakin. But past is past. Andun na yun eh, wala na kaming magagawa. Focus na lang kami sa two games na lang.”

(It’s been difficult because I know I can help my teammates out. I couldn’t do anything. I just encouraged my teammates even if I didn’t play and I just prayed for them. That was really hard for me. But past is past. It already happened and we can’t do anything about it. We just need to focus on the last two games.)

Now that he’s just one ejection away from expulsion from the league, the 6-foot-5 stretch big is looking to play hard, but in control.

“Siguro, ingat na lang,” he said. “Especially ngayong season na kaliwa’t kanan yung [unsportsmanlike fouls]. There are things naman na di mo maiiwasan. Sila yung humahatol. Just gotta adjust. Not saying naman na wala akong mali. Of course mali rin yung nangyari. Siguro medyo ingat and adjust na lang din.”

(Maybe, I’ll just be careful, especially this season where unsportsmanlike fouls are called left and right. There are things that you really can’t avoid. They give the calls. Just gotta adjust. I’m not saying that I didn’t do anything wrong. Of course, what happened was still wrong. So I just have to be careful and adjust accordingly.) – Rappler.com