LIVING up to the standards set by the Tigers in Season 69 is not easy. But four young men are ready to take on the challenge.
Tapped to provide the basketball team with additional offensive firepower and defensive muscle, Rum Perry Scott, Francis Soriano, Hector Badua and Kashim Mirza maybe greenhorns but their basketball aptitude shows a lot of promise which the UAAP hoopdom looms to behold.
Guided by the most prying eyes in the Tiger’s lair, coach Pido Jarencio’s new boys are determined to slug it out on the hardcourt against the league’s grizzled veterans come Season 70 — hopefully to earn their stripes in the UAAP defending champion’s battle-tested rotation — and help UST fashion a glorious repeat of its Season 69 quest.
Rum Perry Scott
Jersey no. 21
5’9”
Point Guard
Scott, a prized find from Lyceum University, is one of two new point guards in the Tigers line-up. Dubbed by Jarencio as a Cuan-Cortez hybrid, the 22-year-old native of Paco, Manila is a heady playmaker who can feed the open man off the pick and hit the go-ahead three. With quick hands and good anticipation, Scott can also be a backcourt menace on defense.
Hector Badua
Jersey no. 5
5’11”
Point Guard/Shooting Guard
A stalwart from the Tigers-B, Badua is a dependable clutch shooter who can also create scoring opportunities for his team mates. Used to carrying the offensive load during his Tiger Cub days, the 19-year-old Badua is a steel-nerved backcourt reliever who is not afraid of making the big plays at crunch time.
Blessed with a hulky frame, Badua can also take on the highly-physical guards of the other teams and endure tremendous pounding from them.
Darryl Basa
Jersey no. 22
6’1”
Shooting Guard
A former Tiger Cub standout, Basa averaged 15.3 points per game, leading the Tigers Team-B in scoring during the 2007 Nike Summer League and the 2007 Filoil-Flying V Pre-season Invitational Cup. The Season 68 junior division Mythical Team member can be a reliable go-to-guy in down-the-wire situations, proof of which was his game-winning looper that helped the Tigers-B seal a 96-92 rout of the Jose Rizal University in their last Filoil outing.
Kashim Mirza
Jersey No. 14
6’4”
Shooting Guard/ Small Forward
Mirza is a player in the mold of Anthony Espiritu who can run the breaks and handle the ball well. This 20 year-old former World Citi College standout is also a prolific outside gunner — both from the perimeter and beyond the arc — with a slasher’s knack for mocking the opposition’s interior defense via dare-devil lay-ups and putbacks.
Francis Soriano
Jersey no. 19
6’6”
Power Forward/Center
The lanky Soriano is a defensive powerhouse at the paint who can block shots with his long arms and provide nifty screens to give his teammates a clear look at the basket.
Likewise, the 21-year-old Antipolo native is a hardworking rebounder, who can back-up Jervy Cruz or Mark Canlas at the slot. However, Jarencio believes that Soriano needs to polish his inside game further despite having a decent hook shot to become a complete post-up threat. Paul Nicholas P. Dimerin with reports from Ana Mae G. Roa
