AXED on both sides of the court, the UST Growling Tigers witnessed another off-season campaign slip off their hands as they absorbed a clinical 74-97 drubbing from the University of the East Warriors in the semifinals of the 3rd Fr. Martin Cup last February 24 at the Arellano gym.
“Our offense and defense were off. Even our freethrows hardly hit the mark,” coach Pido Jarencio told the Varsitarian. “But there is always room for improvement and this off-season we will polish every aspect of our game so that lapses will not happen again come the UAAP season.”
The Tigers played catch-up throughout the contest as the Recto-based cagers, displaying fluid offense and a menacing full-court pressure defense, buried the hatchet on their UST counterparts early in the first quarter.
Despite a couple of three-pointers from Francis Allera and rookie Khasim Mirza, the UE triumvirate of Marcy Arellano, Hans Thiele and Elmer Espiritu kept the Season 70 bridesmaids out of trouble with an 11-0 run to put UST at bay, 30-53, going into the halftime break.
Season 70 MVP Jervy Cruz and Tiger mainstay Dylan Ababou tried to redeem UST’s basketball senses in the third quarter but its dismal freethrow shooting coupled with sporadic inside firepower soured the España-based quintet’s repeated comebacks.
Foul woes then added to UST’s misery down low as UE big men Narciso Llagas and Thiele handily neutralized Jarencio’s charges in the paint to pad its lead, 52-76, at the end of the third period.
Far from losing heart, Cruz completed a three-point play to jumpstart UST’s last-ditch offensive in the pay-off period.
But UE immediately countered with an 8-0 assault to build an insurmountable 55-84 lead that eventually nixed the black-gold-white crew’s finals aspirations.
Ababou and Cruz topscored for the Tigers with 19 and 17 points respectively, while Llagas bannered the Warriors with 18 markers to his name.
