Pathetic defense crashed the Tigers’ title hopes as they bowed to Lyceum-Showa, 73-91, in the Millennium Basketball League (MBL) finals at the Lyceum gym last June 23.
In contrast, Lyceum’s offense was fluid and its defense solid to keep the Dickies-backed Tigers frustrated for most of the game.
“Our defense was terrible that’s why our offense was directly affected and we found it hard to shoot,” Tigers’ team captain Dylan Ababou admitted.
The Tigers had problems patrolling the middle and boxing out Lyceum’s Jerwin Gaco and Chris Aqualaful.
Still, they came within 10 in the fourth quarter, 59-69, courtesy of the steady sniping by MBL MVP Allein Maliksi and Khasim Mirza.
But Lyceum’s own duo, Allen Disuntarum and Dondon Villamin brought back the bubble to 15 points, 59-75. UST got no closer than that the rest of the way.
Early pull-away
Lyceum took an early 11-point advantage, 7-18, in the first quarter, thanks to chief gunner Joseph Abaya.
Combined free-throws from Maliksi, Ababou, and rookie Jerick Teng trimmed the deficit to seven points, 16-23, before an Ababou 3-point play iced the quarter at 19-24.
Maliksi opened the second period with back-to-back outside jumpers to pull UST closer, 24-26. UST big man Chris Camus then gave a three-point boost to force a deadlock at 27-apiece.
Midway into the second quarter, UST finally took the driver’s seat through a third-chance basket from Ababou, 31-29, with 4:39 left in the clock.
Lyceum, however, answered back with a 12-0 run, 33-43, led by Eder Saldua’s effective shooting from the stripe before a split free-throw by Mirza ended the period at 36-50.
The halftime break did not seem to help the Tigers as Lyceum brought with them their first-half momentum in the third quarter, drilling consecutive baskets for a 21-point edge, 36-57.
UST’s Clark Bautista then entered the scoring picture with a jumper, 7:14 minutes left in the period, bolstered by a lay-up from Camus to cut the lead down to 17 points.
Bautista and Maliksi tried to heat things up for UST with their combined field-goal shooting but the opponents had an answer to their every attempt. Lyceum fired consecutive baskets once again, jacking up the lead back to 20 points.
Toward the end of the period, UST’s Aljon Mariano nailed outside baskets to trim the lead to 13 points, 56-69.
The Tigers fought back in the fourth quarter but Lyceum showed better poise and kept the lead.
Maliksi, the lone person who scored in double figures for the Tigers, churned out 17 points while Villamin led Lyceum with 14 markers.
