UST GROWLING Tigers head coach Jinino Manansala dedicated the Tigers’ 74-62 win over UE on Thursday, their first of the season, to his predecessor, Aldin Ayo, who remains indefinitely banned by the UAAP.
“Para sa Thomasian community ‘tong [panalo na ‘to], ito na ‘yung hinihintay nila na panalo although [we still have a] long way to go,” Manansala said. “[W]e give this win to Aldin Ayo, miss na namin siya.”
Manansala was part of Ayo’s coaching staff in UST. He was named replacement of the “Mayhem” coach after the latter was banned indefinitely by the league for holding a training “bubble” in Sorsogon at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
It’s only game number three and the season still has a long way to go, but Manansala said the Tigers’ first win was encouraging, given the team’s hardships since rebuilding.
“Sa una pa lang gusto na namin talaga makuha yung panalo, ‘yung nangyari samin pinaghirapan namin since nung nag-bubble kami,” he said. “Very thankful kami sa panalo, [pero] sabi nga namin kanina, we have a long way to go.”
It was Sherwin Concepcion, one of UST’s two holdovers from the Ayo-coached Tigers team that reached the finals in Season 82, who powered UST to its first win.
Concepcion scored a career-high 25 points, the most by any player in the young UAAP season, on 8-for-11 shooting.
As one of the team’s few veterans, Concepcion said it was his responsibility to lead the Tigers.
“[B]ilang veteran syempre dapat mag-lead ako sa team at dapat matulungan ko yung mga nawawala or mga name-mess up […] basta ‘yun lang, tulungan lang kami walang iwanan,” he said.
Concepcion currently leads the Tigers in scoring, averaging 17 points per game in three games.
“‘Di ko naman tinitignan yung score ko […] nakatingin ako sa team, and ‘yung pinapagawa samin ng coaching staff, gusto ko magawa nila at ‘yung tiwala nila ayaw kong mawala,” he said.
UST will next face the Adamson Soaring Falcons on Saturday, 4 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena. Mark Ernest V. Villeza
