In a battle of the two winless teams in the UAAP, the UST Growling Tigers hit rock bottom when they fell against the University of the East Red Warriors, 96-91, at the Mall of Asia Arena Saturday.
The Warriors improved to a 1-6 win-loss card while the Tigers finished the first round winless in seven games.
UST was down 92-91 with 30 seconds left in the game, but team captain Marvin Lee committed two turnovers allowing UE to run away with its first win.
“Kailangan pa rin mag-improve sa turnovers at freethrows. Hindi ko sila masisi but the only problem ay ‘yung maturity ng players,” UST coach Boy Sablan said.
Growling Tiger Jorem Soriano sank a bank shot to cap off UST’s 13-4 blitz that closed the gap to two midway in the third frame, 62-60.
Pasaol drilled two three-pointers to ignite a 17-4 UE run to end the first half, 54-43.
Red Warrior Pasaol followed up his 49-point performance against De La Salle University with a game-high 32 points for UE.
Lee paced UST with 20 points, including five three pointers, while bigman Steve Akomo notched 19 markers and 18 rebounds.
The Tigers outrebounded UE, 52-39, but gave the ball away too often which resulted in 15 steals for the Red Warriors.
The second round schedule is yet to be announced.
