The UST Growling Tigers dominated the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 81-59, for their second win in the FilOil EcoOil Preseason Cup on Tuesday, June 9, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
It was UST’s second straight victory, improving the Tigers to 2-2 while Adamson dropped to 0-3.
Koji Buenaflor paced the Tigers with 11 points and six rebounds, while Gelo Crisostomo, Amiel Acido and Carl Manding added 10 points each.
UST’s bench players shined, combining for 53 points, just six fewer than Adamson’s total output.
“[Dalawa] lang naman hinihingi namin sa mga second stringers, third stringers — that they play hard and that they share the ball. And we saw that tonight, so we’re okay with that,” UST head coach Peter Martin said.
Tied at 6-all, UST unleashed a 16-9 run to close the opening quarter with a seven-point lead, 22-15.
Leading by four, 22-18, the Tigers followed with a 22-11 surge in the second quarter to stretch the advantage to 15 at halftime, 44-29.
UST carried that momentum into the second half with a 23-9 spurt in the third quarter, capped by an Ice Danting jumper, to build its largest lead of the game at 29 points, 67-38.
Adamson outscored the Tigers 21-14 in the fourth quarter, but UST still cruised to the 81-59 victory.
Jonah Precious was the lone double-digit scorer for Adamson with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.
As of writing, UST’s next game is scheduled for June 16 against the Ateneo Blue Eagles, more than a week after the deaths of foreign student-athlete Divine Adili and incoming recruit Rene Baterbonia, who drowned during a “team-building” activity in Aurora.
