A HEARTBEAT away from barging into the main draw of their first off-season assignment, the UST Growling Tigers looked poised to overwrite a listless UAAP campaign from recent memory.
But the feisty Arellano University Chiefs found a way to remind UST of its Season 71 debacle, posting a 59-69 zonal-round shocker which officially booted the Tigers out of “Sweet 16” contention in the 2008 Philippine Collegiate Champions League last Nov. 6 at the Makati Coliseum.
“Reconstructing the current Tigers to substitute the old ones is still on-going. We are going to join more off season leagues while Dylan Ababou and Khasim Mirza train in the Philippine Basketball League,” assistant coach Beaujing Acot told the Varsitarian.
Fighting without veterans Jervy Cruz and Japs Cuan, the Tigers relied heavily on Ababou and rookie Emilian Vargas to keep pace with the Orland Dehoya-led Chiefs who dominated the entire contest from the opening tiff. They erected a pair of 10-point buffers in the second (25-35) and third (38-48) quarters, respectively.
Capitalizing on the Tigers’ foul woes midway into the fourth period, Arellano extended its lead to 45-56.
Although Ababou and Vargas scored on consecutive lay-ups at the three-minute mark of the game to put UST within six, there was no denying Arellano from there on as the Chiefs sealed the deal with another 10-point margin which proved too much for the Tigers.
Ababou chipped in 22 points while Dehoya led Arellano with 32.
Prior to their elimination, the Tigers pulverized the St. Louis University of Baguio, 102-52, in their first zonal match last Nov. 5.
Weeks earlier, the Tigers topped the wildcard phase with three straight wins against the Las Piñas Blue Lions, 69-56, St. Francis de Assisi College Doves, 64-51, and the St. Clare College of Caloocan, 80-71, last Oct. 17, 16 and 15, respectively.
