FEU's Mongcopa debuts for senior's squad years after motorcycle accident

MANILA, Philippines -- It took some time, but Far Eastern University’s Kirby Mongcopa finally saw seniors’ action in the UAAP.

The 6-foot-4 forward was unable to play for two years after a motorcycle crash fractured his leg ahead of his final season for FEU-Diliman.

Mongcopa, a former Finals Most Valuable Player for the Baby Tamaraws, saw the floor in FEU’s UAAP Season 88 opener against the Ateneo Blue Eagles on Saturday. He finished with just two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the floor, but he had seven rebounds and two assists in almost 15 minutes of play.

The Tamaraws, however, succumbed to Jared Bahay and the rest of the Blue Eagles, 86-83, in overtime.

After the game, Tamaraws head coach Sean Chambers acknowledged that Mongcopa “still has to get some games under his belt” to get comfortable after sitting out for a couple of years.

“I thought it was just new. He's still kind of getting himself going. So being his first game, I think Kirby's talented, but he's got to get some game under his belt to get comfortable,” he told Philstar.com after the game.

“He has a great feel for the game. He has a high basketball IQ. So we're really going to need that moving forward. But he's a capable scorer, and we just want to get him a little bit more cleaner looks,” he added.

Still, the forward will be a big piece of the puzzle for the Tamaraws, who are aiming to go back to the Final Four after missing the semifinals each of the past three seasons.

“Not bad, no. And again, the guy hasn't played in three years, right? After the motorcycle accident. So he's going to be a big piece for us. We've just got to figure out how to get him a little bit more cleaner looks in the game,” he said.

“Yeah, he's a great rebounder. He's got a great bounce. No, Kirby has a great feel for the game. We're going to need him to be successful.”

After the close loss, Chambers lauded his team’s heart, who had to crawl out of an 11 point deficit and an eight-point disadvantage in the fourth quarter.

“I think I still go back to last year against La Salle where I said, we're going to be a problem for everybody. And I know everybody's raving about Ateneo this year with their new guys and they were very good. I was very impressed with them. But we had a chance to give up. We battled all the way through. And then we actually got ourselves into overtime,” he said at a press conference.

“I think it shows the heart of our kids. We just fight and we just battle. And we kept fighting and battle until we found our rhythm,” he added.

“So, we'll get better from it. We'll go back to the gym, we'll work harder. But also, I feel like I have to do a much better job and make sure we clean up our offense a little bit more.”

FEU will try to bounce back against the National University Bulldogs next Saturday, 2 p.m., at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.