The UST Growling Tigers suffered a heartbreaker, losing to the Adamson Soaring Falcons in overtime, 79-76, in the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
With UST down by two with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation, Nic Cabañero navigated the Adamson defense and made a layup to force overtime.
The Soaring Falcons pulled away with a 7-0 blitz in overtime courtesy of five Joem Sabandal and a Matthew Montebon fadeaway jumper to go up by seven with 2:26 left, 75-68.
But the Tigers were able to retaliate with an 8-2 run highlighted by back-to-back Cabañero triples to cut the Adamson deficit to one with 29.8 ticks left.
Montebon and Cedrick Manzano split their freebies to extend Adamson’s lead to three with 2.7 ticks to go.
With no timeouts remaining, the Tigers got the ball to Pangilinan who was open at the perimeter for a three-point shot. However, his shot hit the rim, and time expired to give Adamson the win.
“I’m proud of the boys, they gave it [their] all.” UST assistant coach Japs Cuan said postgame. “We just fell short due to the breaks of the game.”
Sabandal, Adamson’s team captain, went scoreless for the first 39 minutes and 54 seconds of the game but redeemed himself late, scoring nine of Adamson’s last 13 points.
Missing the services of big man Adama Faye due to a back injury, the Tigers only tallied 40 rebounds compared to Adamson’s 56 boards.
The Tigers, however, outscored Adamson in the paint, 42-32, making up for their subpar efficiency from three-point land, converting eight of 26 attempts.
Pangilinan and Cabañero paced UST with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Both shot 38.9 percent from the field.
Angelo Crisostomo and Echo Laure filled the void left by Faye, combining for 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Another spoiler for UST was Manzano, who scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers have now lost 15 straight games dating back to Season 85.
The UST Growling Tigers will next face the DLSU Green Archers on Saturday, Oct. 7, 3 p.m., at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Ernest Martin G. Tuazon with reports from Valere Jane R. Callorena
