AFTER winning their first three games, the Sunkist-UST Tigers failed to sustain their hot start as they lost seven of their last eight games and got booted out in the eliminations of the Philippine Basketball League Unity Cup.
The exodus of key players hounded the RFM-backed Tigers all throughout the eliminations as they groped for the form that led them to the semifinals last conference. A spate of injuries added more woes to their latest campaign.
Alwyn Espiritu, Emerson Oreta and Dondon Villamin were signed up by the other teams prior to this conference.
Sunkist-UST would have clinched an outright semifinal slot had it not bungled its last four games. The slide downhill started in the 77-69 loss to Ateneo-Lee Pipes, where ex-Tiger Niño Gelig struck his former team with team-high 18 points.
Blu Star and the defending champion Hapee Toothpaste both dealt the Tigers six-point losses before Montaña ousted them in their knock-out game for a quarterfinals slot with a demoralizing 27-point win, 86-59, last May 20 at the Blue Eagle Gym.
“Minalas talaga kami ngayon at ang daming injuries,” Sunkist-UST coach Nel Parado explained of their sub-par performance.
Warren de Guzman missed the entire conference with a foot injury while the team’s scoring leader Alex Compton failed to join the team’s practices in their last two games with an on-and-off fever. Forward Melchor Latoreno and point guard VJ Santos both injured their heels in the team’s loss against Hapee. Versatile wingman Christian Luanzon and rookie Jerome Paterno played in their last game against Montaña nursing an ankle and right hand injuries.
Slotman Allen Glenn Patrimonio, brother of Alvin, was also hampered with an elbow injury. Alder T. Almo
