The UST Growling Tigers settled for third place in the Pinoyliga Next Man Cup after faltering against the College of Saint Benilde Blazers in the semifinals, 71-67, at the Enderun Colleges Gym on Sunday, March 17.
Benilde went on to win the championship after conquering the De La Salle University Green Archers in the finals.
After a back-and-forth affair through three quarters, the Tigers eked out a six-point lead entering the payoff period, 55-49.
UST maintained a six-point cushion with under five minutes left, 64-58, but the Blazers closed the game on an 11-3 run to eliminate the Tigers from championship contention.
After a three-pointer by Forthsky Padrigao gave UST a slim one-point lead, 68-67, a go-ahead floater by Justine Sanchez and a dagger triple by Tony Ynot sealed the win for Benilde.
Leland Estacio paced the Tigers in the loss with 24 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a block, while Padrigao finished with 12 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Estacio emerged as the tournament MVP, besting out the likes of San Beda’s Bryan Sajonia, CSB’s Ian Torres, and University of Batangas Brahmans’ Ryan Briones.
The six-foot-two Fil-Am guard averaged 14.12 points, 4.62 rebounds and 2.75 assists throughout the tournament.
The MVP race was determined through three criteria: statistics (40 percent), technical board voting (30 percent) and fan voting (30 percent).
Estacio garnered an average of 29.6 percent to top the MVP race with 40 percent in the technical board voting, 38.8 percent through fan votes and 10 percent in statistics.
