RESILIENCY under pressure typified the UST Growling Tigers’ latest off-season drive as they narrowly escaped the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws’ endgame scare with a 73-69 victory, to ensure a semifinals berth in the 3rd Fr. Martin Collegiate Cup last Feb. 17 at the San Beda gym.
“Maganda ang pinakita ng team,” Tigers coach Pido Jarencio told the Varsitarian. “Kailangan lang pagandahin pa ang depensa at opensa.”
UST appeared threatened at the 36.8 second-mark of the payoff period as FEU rookie standout JR Cawaling drilled a trifecta to draw the Morayta-based squad near, 72-69.
But the Tigers simply refused to crumble, banking on Japs Cuan’s charity split that virtually sealed the outcome for the España-based cagers.
The Tigers then milked FEU’s last offensive ditch with a menacing half-court defense as time expired.
From a tightly contested match, the Tigers broke away midway in the third frame staging a 16-8 uprising with back-to-back treys from Franciz Allera and Dylan Ababou, to build a 52-44 UST advantage at the end of the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ offense was limited to only six points in the second quarter, allowing the Tamaraws to mount an 11-6 run that cut UST’s lead to a basket, 28-26, at the end of the first half.
Boosting its semifinals bid, UST posted a 94-93 squeaker over the Jose Rizal University Bombers at the San Sebastian gym last Feb. 10.
The Tigers held a 93-85 lead in the crucial seconds of the payoff period when JRU unleashed an 8-1 blast anchored on back-to-back triples from Marc Cagoco and Mark Pradas, to push the Bombers within one, 94-93, with just a tick remaining in the contest.
However, Mel Gile deliberately threw a baseball pass to new recruit Allen Maliksi at halfcourt to preserve the one-point margin at the buzzer.
Allera, who paced the Tigers with 31 points, carried the offensive load for UST in the first quarter, pouring five successive points from the perimeter to turn JRU’s 21-17 lead into a 24-23 UST advantage.
UST claimed its fifth win after subduing the Adamson University Falcons last Feb. 3 at the Arellano University gym.
The black-gold-white army’s on-court rampage previously came to a halt after absorbing a blow-out loss to the San Sebastian College Stags, 72-99, last Jan. 27 at the opponent’s homecourt.
Prior to claiming their first loss, the Tigers lorded it over the Metro Manila College Bisons, 93-72, last Jan. 20 at the Arellano gym, to chalk-up their fourth win in the tournament, a week after overcoming the San Beda Red Lions’ 13-0 endgame surge to hack out an 87-81 victory last Jan. 13.
UST opened its campaign with a pair of victories over the STI Olympians, 81-59 last Dec. 8 and the La Consolacion College, 80-85 last December 1. With reports from A. A . Fantilagan, Emil Karlo A. de la Cruz and Levine Andro H. Lao
