NO MATTER how hard the UST Tigers tried to celebrate a 71-63 blasting of the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons last Sept. 6 at the Araneta Coliseum, their body language, from the players down to the coaches, couldn’t deny the frustration.
“It was a struggle every game, but we were always there at the end. We never lost by a wide margin. It was always a close fight. And if by chance, it could have been us at the top of the standings but the lucky breaks did not come our way,” a teary-eyed coach Pido Jarencio told the Varsitarian, minutes after wrapping up the team’s Season 71 campaign with an underachieving 6-8 win-loss record.
Against a vastly improved UP quintet, the Tigers inexplicably started flat, but mustered enough energy down the stretch to rescue their last game of the season.
Tied with UP at 43 late in the third canto, the Tigers leaned on Khasim Mirza to break away from the Fighting Maroons after three lead changes and eventually end the quarter ahead, 56-51.
The Tigers later dropped a 13-0 bomb anchored on Mythical Five member Jervy Cruz and Dylan Ababou to pad a slim 58-55 edge into a 71-55 bubble, which doused cold water on the Jay Agbayani-led UP uprising early in the fourth quarter.
UST actually held a 17-19 margin at the end of the first quarter, but UP opened the second frame with a 6-0 run to even the odds at 33 going into the halftime break.
The Tigers slowly bounced back and built a three-point lead, 40-37, before UP caught up late in the third period.
Cruz, who broke into tears at the buzzer, capped his final UAAP game with 21 points and 18 rebounds while Ababou chipped in 19 markers.
Better than before
Like their senior counterparts, the UST Tiger Cubs also fell short of a Final Four seeding, but piled up just enough wins to redeem themselves from a last-place finish.
The Tiger Cubs trounced the Far Eastern University Baby Tamarraws, 62-57, to secure the fifth spot in the classification phase of the UAAP juniors basketball tournament.
“We are hoping for the best next year,” coach Allan Ascue told the Varsitarian. “By that time, we will be much stronger since the team will still be intact. I am thankful for the exposure the players got this season.”
From a 41-all deadlock at the end of the third quarter, the Tiger Cubs clustered seven straight points to seize the upper hand, 50-43, midway in the pay-off period.
But the Baby Tamaraws responded with a 6-0 blast to knot the count anew at 50 before UST and FEU engaged in a nip-and-tuck affair.
Ascue’s wards, however, regained the lead, 58-57, inside the two-minute mark, thanks to a Paolo Tan hook and a Kyle Neypes dunk that virtually knocked the lights out of the rallying Baby Tamaraws for good. Heinz Jassen D. Brobo and Mika Rafaela A. Barrios
