WITH only a win after four games into the elimination round, the Tiger Cubs are sorely missing the services of last year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jun Cortez.
The Tiger Cubs are hitting rock bottom as the 20-year old Cortez is already too old to play for the juniors division.
The age limit for the division is 19.
Only a game after grabbing their first win of the season, the Tiger Cubs crashed back to earth again as they were ambushed by the De La Salle-Zobel Bengals in an 82-66 rout at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum last July 27.
After a tight first half, the DLSU-Zobel Bengals stepped on the gas in the third period, turning a 37-33 halftime advantage into a 64-50 lead going into the final canto.
With big men Loureck Tong and Marc Panahon out of the game due to fouls, the Tiger Cubs turned into a jump-shooting team in the fourth quarter. Coming off a steal, UST’s court general Leopoldo Bag-o’s fastbreak lay-up with 2:05 remaining in the game cut the Bengal’s deficit to ten, 74-64. Immediately, the Bengals called a timeout.
After the time out, Guillian Navarra silenced the rallying Tiger Cubs with a lay-up to shove the lead back to 12, 76-64. In the next play, Bag-o was blocked in the three-point area that led to an easy basket for the Greenhills-based cagers for a comfortable 14-point lead. UST’s Raymond Leyga scored on a putback to make the score 78-66, but that proved to be the last basket the Tiger Cubs could make as they fumbled in a series of desperate three-point attempts. A lay-up by Bengals guard Rui Suzarra and center Obet Carlos’ two free throws sealed the outcome of the game.
Tiger Cub’s scoring leader John Paul “Japs” Cuan was held down to eight points while Bag-o scorched the net with 23 points. Leyga contributed 16 points for the defending champions.
Carlos and Suzara led the assault for the Bengals with 22 and 21 markers respectively.
First win
Two days earlier, the Tiger Cubs relied on the end-game savvy of the high-flying Cuan to repulse a pesky UP Baby Maroons side, 80-75, to notch their first win at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
After burly UST slotman Marc Panahon split his charities to cut the Baby Maroons’ lead to one, 70-71, Cuan scored three successive baskets, two of them coming off steals, to put the Tiger Cubs on the driver’s seat, 76-71, with less than a minute left in the game. UP’s JR Aranas scored on the next play, but Tiger Cub Joseph Busa answered with a jumper to bring the lead back to five, 78-73.
In the ensuing play, the Tiger Cubs put up a tight defensive stand that resulted in a Baby Maroons’ turnover and a fastbreak lay-up by peppery UST playmaker Leopoldo Bag-o to ice the game. UP’s Jacob Manlapaz scored on a lay-up to peg the count, 80-75.
The defending champions led for most of the game, but the Diliman-based cagers broke loose in the third canto behind gunner Ryan Maderal’s three straight triples in the dying minutes of the quarter to overhaul a 33-46 halftime deficit into a tie, 59-apiece.
Cuan, taking the reins from last year’s MVP and co-Mythical Five member Cortez, led the Tiger Cubs with 18 markers. Bag-o and Leyga backstopped him with 13 and 12 points respectively.
Maderal topscored UP with 19 points, 12 of them coming from beyond the arc.
Arch-rival
Meanwhile, in the return bout of last year’s title protagonists, the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eaglets exacted revenge against the Tiger Cubs in a high scoring 109-106 win at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum last July 20.
Without Cortez, who punctured the hoops with 35 points in the Tiger Cubs’ title clinching game last season, the España-based cagers fell prey to the Blue Eaglets, 16-26, in the first period. The Katipunan-based squad kept the Tiger Cubs at bay with their deadly outside shots in the second quarter to have an eight-point cushion going into the dug-out, 54-46. The Cubs’ misery continued as Cuan injured his left ankle at the start of the third period, forcing the UST stalwart to sit out most of the quarter. With big man Loureck Tong, Busa and Bag-o fouling out, the Tiger Cubs got into more trouble as they fell behind, 79-71, before the start of the fourth quarter.
Entering the final canto, Cuan ignored the pain as he led the Tiger Cubs in greeting the Blue Eaglets with a 10-3 run to trim the lead to one, 81-82. But the Blue Eaglets kept their composure as they kept on breaking the Tiger Cubs’ zone defense with their outside bombs. The Blue Eaglets were so deadly from the outside that they were able to sink 14 treys in the game.
With only five minutes remaining and the Blue Eaglets up by six, 98-92, Cuan scored on a lay-up and Panahon made one free throw to inch within three points, 98-95. That was the closest the Tiger Cubs could get as their Katipunan-based nemesis’ steady free throw shooting spelled the difference in the end game.
Cuan fired 28 points in a losing effort for the Tiger Cubs while Panahon finished the game with 23 markers mostly on putbacks. Leyga also tallied 19 points for the Tiger Cubs.
On the other hand, Johan Uichico, the son of the San Miguel Beer and RP National Team Mentor Jong Uichico, led five Blue Eaglets in double figures with 20 points.
Wrong foot
The Cubs started their title retention bid on the wrong foot.
Leading for most of the way, the Tiger Cubs experienced opening jitters in the end game as they collapsed to yield a 74-69 upset to National University Bullpups at the Araneta Coliseum last July 14. Alder T. Almo
